My Journey to the Cyber Security Space……..
Hacking sounds cool. Right…? But for me, it was only a term till 2018. After 2018 it became a passion for me. So let me tell you all about my journey to this amazing Cyber Security Space. Yes.. it is a space. why? that’s because like in real space there is much to process, much to discover, and every day something is happening. The same applies to Cyber Security too in digital space. Everyday something is getting hacked using new tactics and technology or some bugs are discovered and for that new solutions are coming. Remember that this journey is totally based on my experience.
In my last job, I felt like I am going nowhere. I just stuck in there. Nothing exciting happening. One the day of the annual meeting I have got a fitness band as a gift from the company. Now I am an engineering degree holder(Instrumentation and Control), so I was intrigued about this fitness band’s working. By a simple google search, I learned about the concept of the Internet Of Things. From there I searched more and saw old news saying by fitness tracker someone can hack a system. Here is the link that got my attention: https://www.firstpost.com/tech/news-analysis/now-its-possible-to-hack-a-system-in-10-seconds-thanks-to-fitness-trackers-3672705.html. From there I came to know about Cyber Security. I researched a lot about cybersecurity. It is vast and growing. The current scenario of today’s world where full of cyber attacks, cyber frauds, cybercrimes are happening, this infosec industry is not going to fall like any other industry in a particular situation. It will boom every coming year. That’s why it is a recession-proof job sector.
On the internet there are thousands of books, sites of cybersecurity-related topics. But there is one thing that is missing which is a proper guide, a proper structure, How to start? Where to start? I got the answers to these questions which is Jigsaw Academy. Jigsaw Academy is a part of Manipal Global Education. Jigsaw Academy collaborated with Israel’s premier cybersecurity training provider HackerU. Now I believe that, if I think I can do it then there can be 500 ways to do that. I just need to do smart work, that’s all. So I talked with the admission counselor and enrolled in this program.
Now the program name is Master Certificate in Cyber Security (Red Team) Program. This program not only makes you confident to gear up to make preparations for OSCP certification, but it will also make you confident in the total cybersecurity aspect. Just a note that all the faculties are well known in this market by their work and skills. This whole program is divided into 3 phases. The first phase is basics of networking and introduction to Linux in online led classes taken by Lion Kontorer. The second phase is deep dive in Linux and some fundamentals like proxy , VPN and Wireshark taken by Oleg Karant in a classroom session in Bengaluru. After this, there was an exam for sorting. The eligible candidates resumed the course. I passed the exam with flying colors. Now the main phase three. Here first Oleg Karant continued with topics like bypassing the perimeter, introduction to windows active directory domain services.
Now another faculty Vladi Boaz Fidchuk came and taught the privilege escalation, windows active directory domain services, windows power shell, python, infrastructure penetration testing.
Then comes the Yosi Magor and taught us the web application security and android application security.
Now comes my favorite Indian mentor and also HackerU India academic head Swaroop Yermalkar. He taught us the IOS application security, malware analysis, threat hunting, reverse engineering, IOT security fundamentals, Cloud fundamentals. You can check his website. He is the one who encouraged me and told me to write reports of machines after cracking them so he can point out if there is a mistake. Now in this COVID19 pandemic, we all are staying indoor only. Everything is not normal. So Swaroop sir again started giving us support by extending our LMS (Learning Management System) access, taking small penetration testing exams, giving lectures on different topics, learning links, and many more online. This is a rare and great personality that anyone can not find easily these days.
Here I have to tell you about three people. One is Azaz Ahmed Dobiwala who helped a lot whenever we have a problem with anything in our study. Second is Mahesh sir who was the coordinator of this program. He is like my big brother. He helped me a lot if anything troubles in my study. He made sure that I have the best experience in this program. The last person is Yogendra Swaroop Srivastava who is like my younger brother and also my teacher. I always had a problem with implementation and making logic in a programming language. Yogendra solved that issue. He taught me those small details of programming in between classes and even helped me whenever I text him. He taught me the buffer overflow in such a manner that I can teach my other classmates. He made me confident enough to try without any hesitation.
Now overall I am pretty confident in Virtual Box, Wireshark, Linux, Windows, OWASP Top 10, Web Application Security, Mobile Application Security, Penetration Testing, Burpsuite, SQLMAP, Volatility, Fundamentals of IoT, Fundamentals of Amazon Web Services, and many more offensive security concepts and tools. I just loved it.
The satisfaction after cracking a machine is uncanny. These happy feelings were lacking before 2019. Now hacking is cool for me. I can connect the dots now by remembering all those lessons back in the class.
I have found not only wonderful teachers, but I have also found some wonderful classmates during this program. Many people are senior to me, some are the same age as mine and some are junior to me. Seniors gave me some suggestions for that I admire them from my heart. Even juniors were great too. The same age guys were awesome. I relived my engineering days again in this program.
Now a lot of practice, getting knowledge from different resources, upskilling, and building networks is the key to this pandemic. All of the faculties show that skills come first than any certificate. If I have the skill and someone recognizes that then I am going to get a job and do wonder. Your skills will take you higher. Jigsaw Academy has a placement team that is working to place us. So I am sharpening my skills and waiting for the moment to get an opportunity given by the placement team or some person who can recognize me in this market. Here is my certificate after completion of this program.
Hope we all make secure the internet and meet up someday. You can connect with me on LinkedIn. You can also view my profile in Try Hack Me and also check my Try Hack Me write-ups like the LianYu machine, Inclusion machine, and many more. Thank you for reading this blog and I will say again that HACKING IS COOL…………
Edit: I got a job on my own. So do not worry. Just keep trying.