Next – Quick Start

So you want to get into hacking, cracking, red teaming, blue teaming, black hatting, white hatting, cyber or information security and you’re not sure where to start?

Worried you’ll never be good enough?

Everyone starts from zero, and now’s as good a time as any to get started. All you need is:

• Time
• Dedication
• You must be willing to read.

Why is reading so important? You’re going to spend the rest of your life reading on a screen or on paper. Whether you’re a hacker, penetration tester, defender, or whatever, you’re going to be reading logs, command output, bug reports, source code, obfuscated malware, SPAM, phishing emails, whitepapers, RFPs, documentation, man pages, training materials, and who knows what else.

Reading for comprehension and detail is a critically important skill.

Here’s three easy steps to getting started:

1. Spend at least an hour every day reading about a technology, technique, or watching a seminar or podcast. Find something new to learn.
2. Spend at least an hour every day practicing what you’ve just studied. Application will help you learn and remember and tie concepts together.
3. Spend a little bit of time writing about what you did. Start a blog, git account, or post on Twitter. Writing not only forces you to better understand a concept as you write about it, but you give yourself something to refer back to later.

If you spend at least two hours learning and practicing you’ll build skills quickly. If you can put in 4 – 5 hours you’ll get into Deep Learning mode which supercharges your brain into making new connections and epiphanies.

You can find a boatload of tutorials and book reviews here and I’ll link to useful resources around the web.

Happy learning!

Next – Quick Start