Hello there!
Well its been a minute since I last posted. Let me tell you, I was a little bit overzealous in my ambitions and goals. In one of my last posts, I set the goal of going for the TCM Security PNPT certification in August. Unfortunately, I was unable to hit this goal. I underestimated how difficult the CEH would be and how much I would need to focus on preparing for it. However, my missed goal was not in vein. I was able to study and pass my CEH certification on the first attempt. Not only did I have to prepare for my CEH, but I was also in the process of moving myself and my dog across the country to move back home. Yes, yes, I know. I am now a “hacker” that lives in his mother’s basement (LMAO!)
<img src=”/assets/images/memes/basement-dweller.jpg”
I am going to have to stop playing online video games, out of fear of being called out by a squeaker for living in my mom’s basement. But in all reality I am very thankful that I am in the situation where my parents can help me, with my career change process.
However, moving across the country is a lot more difficult as an adult than when I did it years ago as a college student. Coordinating the truck, packing up all my stuff, cleaning and preparing the home for moving out, and finally the drive. This past month I have been doing all the above and more, and that is why my blog has been left idle for the last month or so But fear not, I have not neglected my Cyber Security studies.
Here is what I have been working on:
During the past month, I have dove deep into relearning and building upon my python skills from the ground up. During my previous role, at Comcast, I would often use Python to help me visualize data. I knew the value of the language and knew how powerful it is, but once I stepped into the Info Sec community and saw the large swath of tools written in the language, and I really grasped its true potential. To do this I have been going through the books Python Crash Course and Automating The Boring Stuff. I have been having so much fun building with python, and even have been building my own tools. Although they are not ready for public release yet, they will be soon, so keep on the lookout for those on my GitHub. Overall, these books have been incredible resources in touching up my python skills and on top of that they have helped me to start approaching problems like a software engineer. I am constantly thinking of ways to automate, and exploit using my python skills now. My longterm goals for my Python development are a password sprayer, a c2 and a recon framework.
On top of Python, I have been delving into some other languages, I have started looking into Rust and have enjoyed my experience with it so far. I was able to find a book from No Starch Press, and have been working through it. I find the language to be a little more difficult than python, but I really like how efficient it is and how compact the binaries are, I am starting to see how I may be able to use this in the future in my info sec endeavors, but really need to get more comfortable with it.
Today, I took a Tech Tuesday webinar with SANS and learned about making a loader in C#. I had never worked with C#, so at first I struggled, but as I worked at it, I started to get the hang of it. I will definitely go through the labs a couple more times to get a better grasp, but its deifnitely a language I would love to pick up and lay with. Especially since some of the info sec pros, that have inspired me, work so often in it. Its definitely a bit of a long term goal, but a goal nonetheless.
As for my certification goals and my “pentesting” work, I will write more soon.