Contents:
What is this page?
This page will be an on going page for both myself and others interested in cybersecurity. For myself, it’ll be a place I can remember obscure cybersecurity resources I’ve found, while for others it will be a place to come and find cyber resources that I found helpful.
My goal with this is to have an expanding growth of content and resources for learners and experienced veterans alike! Use whatever you find here to improve your skills, find something fun, or discover something new. If you’ve got issues with content I have here let me know at my contact info, I’ll make sure to address your concerns or suggestions!
Lastly, the material provided here is for educational and research purposes ONLY, and I do not condone offensive or illegal actions. Please see my disclaimer for further questions: Disclaimer.
THIS IS AN EVER GROWING LIST OF INFORMATION FOR anyone that wants to learn :)
Intro to Cyber:
Getting into cyber security can seem intimidating but its very doable! It mostly requires a ton of reading and desire to learn on your own (And some head banging, and a long long grind)! A good place to start is reading lots of sources and starting to understand the terminology used (see Sources).
Honestly there’s probably so much I don’t cover here, but hopefully some of it helps get you started! Most of my knowledge and skill I gained from talking with other people and picking up small pieces along the way (learning linux skills/programming languages being the foremost).
Useful skills:
- Typing skills:
- this is just a personal opinion but being able to type fast and accurately will save you a TON of time in the long run and its a super useful skill to have
- touch typing: https://www.typingclub.com/
- Networks:
- Professor Messor Network+ (this guy is awesome!): This course will give you an awesome overview of general networking concepts! If you have zero experience don’t worry, he assumes that! I spent one winter break in college going through his course and came out a networking expert! (Not really, but I understood how the internet/iot/routers/computers all communicated).
- DNS protocol: link. This is useful to know, but may be a little too advanced? If it doesn’t make sense that’s OK, come back after professor Messor’s course.
- Googling: This is a very important skill! You can find most simple answers on google, and you’ll improve as you learn more vocabulary.
The hardest part about googling is knowing how to ask questions or create google searches (Useful Graphic and it’s Source) .
In addition, use different engines: https://duckduckgo.com is just one of many!
- Asking questions: read this article and save yourself headache : how to ask questions :)
Programming info
Another good thing to do is learn a programming language. I would suggest python or C:
- https://cs50.harvard.edu/college/2019/fall/weeks/2/ (look here for c lessons)
- https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-python (look here for good python tutorials)
- https://www.python.org/doc/ (beginner –> advanced topics, docs are great)
Python is super useful for getting started if you’ve never coded before! C can be kind of hard and confusing to just dive into, but the cs50 course is awesome!
Most open source security projects will reference this stuff so its kinda important to understand programming languages if you want to actually learn how to implement some real life security concepts. Python and C are probably the two biggest languages to learn! If anyone tells you HTML is a language they are wrong.
Learning your first defined programming language (c, java, etc…) is always the hardest (python is interpreted). You’ll find that stack exchange is a super useful website too, once you start coding for a bit.
setting up linux:
Learning linux is a very useful skill and makes alot of security problems WAY easier. The best way to learn it is to use it (imo):
- First (I’m assuming you’re on windows) you’ll need a vm! (What is a vm? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIVXjl4SwVo).
- You’ll need virtualbox! (VMWARE isn’t free :( )
- Download virtualbox, install ubuntu in a vm: https://www.wikihow.com/Install-Ubuntu-on-VirtualBox - open up a terminal!
- ctrl-alt-t (YAY!) - now you need commands:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBokz0LTizk (tutorial vid)
- to ssh:
- windows: https://techgoeasy.com/how-to-use-putty-for-ssh/
- linux: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-use-ssh-to-connect-to-a-remote-server-in-ubuntu (don’t worry about configuring, you just need the basic command)
Useful Sources:
Linux:
Tools:
- list of tools from a great professor: FORENSICS
CTFs:
CTFS (capture the flag) are competitions to learn security skills. Get started with some of these!
Beginner:
- http://overthewire.org/wargames/bandit (ssh to the server and follow the prompts from the website)
Newbie Links:
News Sources:
This will keep expanding as I find more
-
reddit:
- r/security
- r/netsec
- others… (search network/cyber security on reddit)
-
twitter:
- follow the people I’m following: m4st3rmjr)
-
rss feeds/webistes:
Books:
no starch press:
They make some of the best cybersecurity books out there and their editing is top notch! Buy the book on their website, since it will come with a free pdf version! You cannot go wrong with any of their titles.