How to break into Cyber Security
How I get into Cyber Security :
Before telling how you can get job into Info Sec, I would like to share my own Experience for same. I started my journey as Software Developer but Interest was always towards Cyber Security and that took a lot of time to get into AppSec. Steps which I followed with dedication are mentioned below :
- Learn about the requirements within team which leads me towards Secure Code Review is required role within project.
- Web Application Penetration Testing is another required open position I found within my Project.
- Searching the approach and learning material for same in Open Internet. Found a lot of awesome people over Twitter & LinkedIn sharing training material, creating content for Cyber Security. I started following those people which always keep me update for whats going on Cyber Security.
- Started participating in CTF and conferences related to Infosec. CTF is simulated environment where we can practice our hacking skills. As I use to practice Overthewire since college days which helped me a lot to build my Linux Skills. CTF is same to test you capabilities in different domains like WebApp & Network Pentest along with Social Engineering, OSINT & Forensic.
- Initially things were difficult but I used to read blogs to understand the approach of other people towards Security Testing which helps me a lot to improve my approach towards understanding the problem. I enrolled to some gamified Cyber Security Learning platform which really made things easy to learn also you get a lot of challenging labs to practice your own skills like TryHackMe, HackTheBox, Vulnhub, CyberDefender.
- Certification is surely something comes with a lot of exposure once I get into AppSec Team. My organization helped me to Achieve CEH Certification. After that I cleared my CEH Practical Exam & now I am pursuing for CPENT Certification.
How you can get into Cyber Security :
Before proceeding to this I would like to share some facts about number of jobs open in multiple profile of Cyber Security.
70k Jobs on LinkedIn alone for Cyber Security Profiles in US globallnumberishigher than our expectation.
So we can say if you really skilled candidate a lot of jobs open also if you starting your journey no worries If you follow the steps I’m going to mentioned below surely you get into InfoSec but be honest with yourself because only you know about strength and weakness.
- Analyze your skills, research the market , read blogs and choose if you really want to get into InfoSec and If answer is Yes choosing domain is something one of the difficult process. Cyber Security comes with multiple profiles for eg : SOC Analyst, Penetration Tester, Application Security Engineer.
- Once you have your target in mind regarding what path best suite too your skills. Google/research the learning material for same a lot of free material available, I will list out few links at the end for reference.
- Attend Conferences, CTFs and write your experience in blogs and share with people. So other people also get aware about your skills.
- Be active with your learning research about alternate opensource tools for example if you can’t afford burp suite Pro use community version, Use Opensource tools.
- TryHackMe, HacktheBox and Vulnhub profile weight a lot when you apply for any infosec role. As a fresher you can’t afford certification but these platform have really good free learning content available along with Labs.
- Practice your skills in real world scenario for which you can signup to any Bug Bounty platform like BugCrowd, HackerOne, Intigriti etc.Practice is only way to improve your skills
Resources
A lot of learning material available but I’m listing some best platform which is part of my daily infosec learning:
These are top 5 Leaning Platform as beginner you can proceed, follow people in Twitter, LinkedIn, Join Communities in Discord. If you want to discuss more about Cyber Security ping me over Twitter, LinkedIn, I’m always open to answer your question.
Happy Hacking and
Practice Practice Practice Practice ……………..
