Hello world!

Well, here’s the start of something new:

The basic premise of this new site is that I (an experienced sysadmin with about 10-12 years experience in IT(Linux, Cloud, Web Hosting etc)) want to move into the security sector.

I have had an interest in security since I was younger and first found a directory traversal flaw at school and found a passwords.xls file with the credentials of everyone in the school. This was about 15 years ago though, I think security has come a lot more to the forefront of technology over the last few years as our lives have become so internet central. From 56k dial up 20 years ago at my friends house to 100mb connections at home and 1gb pipes at work. From having a 1.44Mb floppy disk for bringing files home to having several Tb in my pocket.

Back to the premise, I have tried looking online for information on how to get into this sector and there is a lot of information and the quality varies substantially. Hacker videos on youtube with dance backgrounds showing how to install Kali to in depth courses such as CEH and OSCP. However, separating the good quality from the bad is not so easy.

Furthermore, I see a number of questions in getting from being the sysadmin to being the security professional / hacker. I’ve tried to list them as best I can below

  1. Who
    1. Who are the experts and leaders in the field and have both experience and competence to be reliable people to learn from.
    2. Who has made this transition before that I can ask advice from.
    3. Who is the ideal hypothetical candidate for these roles.
  2. What
    1. What it is that I need to learn to get into this field.
    2. What subjects / skills are of value to get positions.
    3. What can I do to accelerate the learning process.
    4. What does the hypothetical candidate need to know.
  3. Where
    1. Where are the resources from which we can learn the information required to break into this field and keep current.
    2. Where are the jobs advertised for these roles.
    3. Where are the centers that these people in these roles hang and communicate.
  4. When
    1. Not sure how this fits yet. except that I try to learn from now.
    2. When is the right time to apply for positions.
    3. When is the right time to learn each skill.
  5. Why
    1. What is the value in learning each subject and area.
  6. How
    1. How to learn – What are the best methods to learn these topics.
    2. How these apply – How are these skills applied to the job / career.
    3. How to get a job – How to prove myself capable to work in this industry.
  7. How Much?
    1. How much do I need to learn to become productive.
    2. How much time will this take.
    3. How much do I need to focus in each area.