CYBERSECURITY GUIDIE THREAD

So you want to pursue the Cybersecurity pathway for IT.

This will be a collection of information to help you get into the pathways.

(Any cybersecurity recruiters and senior level employees will also agree with this thread, ask them)

First off

Cybersecurity is NOT entry level at all. This is just a marketing buzz they are doing because they are DESPERATE for basic qualified candidates

That "you need 5 years" IS A LIE

Basically they mean "3 certs and some labs".

Its VERY VERY common for people to go from level 1 or level 2 helpdesk to engineers in less than a year, matter a fact, people become even Analysts in less than a year from entirely DIFFERENT industries

My background:

Im currently a self study student and have been using versions of Linux since a child. My degree isnt related to the pathway at all.

In IT in general, its common to have unrelated majors to it and not in a degree at all

Experience > Certs > Degree

Now before you can go into the pathway the you MUST have a fundamental understanding of networking.

The CCNA is a need, not the network+, the CCNA. Cisco MADE networking

After the CCNA id advise the Vmware VCP-NV

Virtualization is VERY critical in Cybersecurity

With virtualization, you'll also need an understanding of Linux. Avoid the Linux+ its shit.

RHCSA is a good well rounded linux cert which will help you get an understanding of more Linux advanced operating systems

Those 3 alone can get you some networking job.

Now to understanding cybersecurity, there's 3 teams basically

Blue team - Defense - Analysts

Red team - Offense - Pen testers/vulnerability testers

Purple team - Both/create security plans - Engineers/Architects

With job outlook the most in demand roles are as followed

Engineers > Analysts > Pen Testers

The demand for Analysts and Engineers is like 4 to 1 compared to Pen Testers

But ALL are in high demand and ALL have jobs that go vacant for months

Most people begin as level 1 Security Analysts (also called socs) and you can branch to upper level blue, red, or purple if you please. Its on you.

Enginners and Architects get paid the most, followed by Pen testers, than Analysts (unless its level 3)

ALL start around 70k

In simple terms

Level 1 SOCs start at 60k

Level 2 SOCS , level 1 pen testers, and level 1 engineers its over 75k usually,

Level 2 engineers and pen testers and Level 2 SOCS should be around 90k

Now ANY level 3 role if its around 90k YOU ARE UNDERPAID

Across the board ALL the mediun incomes are increasingly about 3k-7k a year

In possibly 3 years from now the medium income for engineers will be around 135k-145* or more, its current around 90-120k

How to become a Level 1 Security/SOC Analyst/Incident Reporter (Blue Team)

After networking certs id advise this

Sec+ -> CySa+ or CCNA Cyber Ops + Labs

This will make you a level 1 Analyst basically.

How to become just a Pentester/ Vulnerability Tester (Red team)

Sec+ -> study the material from Pentest + and or a ejpt sponsor if you can -> OSCP

I only advise CEH for government roles. But for clearance once you have Sec+.

Pen Test+ is 8570 and cheaper than CEH but harder

If you dont have the OSCP its EXTREMELY hard to be a pen tester. It IS the baseline and IS the level

It doesn't have everything but it WILL get you a job

Yes you will also need to learn SOME programming like Python and Ruby but the certs will cover this

How to become a Cybersecurity Engineer (purple team)

Again after CCNA and VCP-NV and Red Hat

Security+ -> CySa+ / CCNA Cyber Ops -> CEH (semi optional, if you lack experience and find a sponsor get it) -> OSCP

Become decent at Python , other languages will come as needed-

If you have no experience here's some estimations:

Analyst/SOC - ive seen it done the QUICKEST in about 9 months but its about a year tops

Pen Tester - 1 year if you learn VERY quickly but around year and a half

Engineer - year and a half MIN

Now as for where to learn this?

Cybrary, Udemy, bootcamps WITH JOB PLACEMENT ONLY ADD YOUR PROFESSORS ON LINKEDIN AND IT BETTER NOT COST NO MORE THAN 10K, youtube, etc

If your city has cybersecurity conferences ATTEND THEM AND ADD RECRUITERS ON LINKEDIN

Github is also a great place to store your labs.

Other than that, this is pretty much how to get into cybersecurity.

I forgot to also mention

Some cloud certs like AWS are also useful

I advise it due to things becoming more remote

ANOTHER THING

If you dont purse Vmware VCP NV GET ANOTHER CISCO CERT FOR NETWORKING

Trust me