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Securing the Future - A Journey into Cybersecurity Exploration
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BSides Nashville 2018

BSides Nashville 2018

Information Security resources for beginners

October 16, 2018

I wrote a recommended resources post back in early 2017. I’d like to update that, as the resources I recommend have changed. I try not to think of my podcast as something for new people to the infosec field. However, the people reaching out to me the most are people who are new to the field. So, I’ve given in and I want to start creating a series of posts directed at new people or those trying to get into the industry. These posts are meant as a gateway, not an exhaustive list.

These are the resources I find the most useful. With out further ado.

Websites:

  • Krebs on Security

  • CSO Online - Steve Ragan

Krebs is considered the public Intrusion Detection System (IDS) for companies. If you’re getting a call from him, it’s probably not good. He covers various topic primarily around breaches, skimmers, and unmasking malicious actors. I’m friends with Steve. He reports on a variety of infosec related topics. When something breaks on Twitter he’s one of the first people I check to get accurate information.

Podcasts:

  • Risky Business

  • Security Weekly

  • Peerlyst list of podcasts

Risky Business is the best security podcast out there. It’s the podcast with the best content and quality. The podcast allows me to stay up with the latest infosec news. He’s got sponsored (gotta pay dem bills) podcasts that are just as useful. Security Weekly was the first podcast I listened to. It’s great for getting information and gaining an understanding of the hacker culture. After a while, for me, it turned into a bit of a boys club where they go off on tangents and genital jokes. Episodes are usually two hours long which sucks up a lot of podcast listening times. Finally, there’s the Peerlyst list of podcasts. It has an exhaustive list of infosec related podcasts.

Conferences and local user groups:

  • BSides

  • Meetup.com

Conferences and local user groups are a great place to learn, while also meeting people in the field. The security community is inclusive and welcoming if you put yourself out there. That means doing that awkward social thing. There is very likely a BSides near you. Most local user groups can be found on meetup.

Training:

  • Irongeek

  • Pluralsight

  • SANS SEC401

Information security is an ever changing field. To stay relevant in the field requires curiosity and a willingness to learn new things. Before getting to that point, we need to learn the basics. Irongeek and Pluralsight help with the basics and staying up-to-date. SANS SEC401 is a general course that will provide a good foundation for any security professional. I thought I was above the course, as I was taking it three years into my infosec career (and several more in IT). I was so wrong. The course helped fill in a lot of gaps for me from a security and IT perspective. I highly recommend the course for beginners and those already in the field.

This blog post first appear on Exploring Information Security

In Technology Tags infosec, Resources, SANS, Training, websites, podcast
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Snow in McLean, VA

Snow in McLean, VA

SANS SEC487 Open-Source Intelligence Gathering and Analysis

March 28, 2018

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the brand new SANS course for OSINT in McLean, VA. The creator of the course, Micah Hoffman, has been on the podcast a few times and someone I consider a friend. He'll make his fourth appearance in a future episode on the topic of the SEC487 course. I wanted to take this opportunity to give some impressions of the course, while it's still relatively fresh.

Micah created videos for help with the labs as part of the course. This was one candid moment from those videos.

Micah created videos for help with the labs as part of the course. This was one candid moment from those videos.

Simply put, the course is fantastic. I recommend it for those with OSINT experience and those without. I have some OSINT experience. As part of my job, I've investigated internal and external people. Working in a Security Operations Center (SOC) for the State of South Carolina, I did a lot of OSINT looking up IP addresses, URLs, and various other things. I've used it to figure out if a marketing or technical recruiter email is legitimate. I've used it in job hunting.

I still took quite a bit away from the course. I took 18 pages of notes. Another project idea came out of the course, OSINT for the Blue Team. I couldn't wait to get back to work to start building out some OSINT standard operation procedures (SOP). I've already taken my notes and built out a resource page for others to use.

I got to build my first sock puppet. Work on better documentation (I love mindmaps for documentation!). I used Tor for the first time and visited the "dark web." Got a ton of new tools and resources to check out. I'm excited to start using Hunchly and Spiderfoot as part of my processes.  The capture the flag (CTF) on day six was fun and engaging.

We laughed a lot. If you're in the area, I recommend Super Chicken and the food trucks on Pinnacle Drive. Center of the Universe brewing has got some really good beer. Which reminds me, Untapped is a gold mine for OSINT. I got to see snow (see above)! Best of all, I got to see Micah teach a five-day course on one leg. He got really good at the three-point turns towards the end of the week.

Enjoying #SEC487 with @webbreacher! Learning tons of OSINT goodness already.

A post shared by Timothy De Block (@timothydeblock) on Mar 19, 2018 at 8:02am PDT

The course was a beta, so it had it's rough moments. Those were rare. Most of the feedback I had was for improving the course. Moving content to earlier in the week rather than later. Maybe doing a little less on this topic here or more of that topic there. The course is solid and it's only going to get better.

Future dates include:

  • Denver, CO - May/June 2018(not listed yet)

  • Baltimore, MD - September 10-15, 2018

  • Las Vegas, NV - September 23-28, 2018

  • Singapore, Singapore - October 22-27, 2018

Click here for more details.

This blog post first appear on Exploring Information Security.

In Experiences Tags OSINT, SANS
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GSEC Analyst 38087

January 21, 2016

This past Wednesday I took and passed my GIAC GSEC exam. I am now officially GSEC Analyst 38087!

SANS 401 - Security Essentials and the GSEC exam are the main reason why I haven't been posting very much lately. With the course and exam out of the way, I plan to get back to postng more regularly. Before I do that, I wanted to give some quick thoughts on the course.

When I was told that I would be doing the SANS 401 course back in November, I was a bit annoyed. I was just about to start studying for the CISSP and was essentially told to forget that and focus on this course and the accompanying exam. I thought I was too good for a 401 course. I have 13 years of experience in IT. The last three and half of which I've spent in security. I didn't need some entry level training. Boy was I wrong. 

What SANS 401 security essentials did for me, was fill in a lot of holes in my IT and security knowledge. Networking things such as the OSI model, TCP/UDP traffic, and so on. It also introduced me to things at a higher level such as risk management, critical security controls, and so on. I learned new things about Windows, and I've been working on Windows since NT. I also got a better understanding of the Linux operating system.

The course taught me a lot of new things, while giving me a deeper understanding of the things I already knew. It was a very valuable course for me to take and I would recommend it for anyone in security.

 This post first appeared on Exploring Information Security.

In Experiences Tags Training, SANS, certification
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