RE: Getting In

[Joe McCray <joe () rootwars org>]

Hey Louie,

I started as a Network Geek too (Windows/Cisco)a few years ago, and my 
Information Assurance Officer at my job asked me to go to Def Con. I really 
enjoyed the Con and I soon found myself at the hacking competition Capture The 
Flag (CTF). I'd never used Linux, and had never even heard of BSD at that 
point. I was fortunate enough to find a 17 year old to show me around and 
introduce me to people. He also had to explain what an and exploit was, buffer 
overflow was, what a port scan was, and several other things (yes, I was an 
MCSE). I learned more in that weekend then I did from doing any of my 
Microsoft/Cisco certifications.

Ever since that Def Con I've been hooked. I started buying a lot of books and 
magazines on security, and that helped but most of that type of stuff just 
teaches you to run a bunch of tools. I kept going to CTF each year at Def Con, 
and I soon realized that the people that were really good all had a few things 
in common:

1. Proficient a few OSs (Unix variants/Linux variants/Windows)
2. Deep understanding of TCP/IP
3. Programming background (C, perl, scripting, etc...)
4. Up to date on vulnerabilities and common hacker tricks/tactics

I guarantee you if you have these skill sets someone will hire you.

As far as places you can go on the web check out:

Good general sites:
http://linuxsecurity.org/
http://infosecwriters.com/

Logging/IDS:
http://honeypots.org/ids/links
http://loganalysis.org/
http://www.counterpane.com/log-analysis.html

Wargame/RootWar Sites:
http://www.hackerslab.org/eorg/
http://roothack.org/
http://quiz.ngsec.biz:8080/

Hope this points you in the right direction....

Joe McCray
joe () rootwars org
http://www.rootwars.org
Hacking Games   Hands-on Courses   HackLab Access



Quoting Louie <tech.louie () verizon net>:

> Hey Joe McCray,
>
> I was wondering what other sites would I
> be able to learn about security? I check
> out the url that you posted on here. I
> myself have been in the tech world for
> about 5 yrs. I would like to move on to
> security and intrusion detection. So any
> other sites that you could think of can
> you post them for me or anyone else?
>
> Plus I notice that your part of
> root-wars. You must be very good in
> linux also too?
>
> Louie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joe McCray
> [mailto:joe () rootwars org]
> Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2003 12:24
> AM
> To: chort
> Cc: security-basics () securityfocus com
> Subject: Re: Getting In
>
> As far as getting the security
> experience - your software development
> background should be real plus. A lot of
> people come into the security field
> from the network administration side of
> the house (myself included). There are
> a lot of groups out there on the net
> that are good for learning about
> security.
> Some places that you might want to check
> out are honeypots.org, sans.org/rr,
> infosecwriters.com, and then there are
> the sites that are more geared toward
> what I'd call "functional knowledge"
> places like pulltheplug.com,
> roothack.org,
> and ngsec.com.
>
> Joe McCray
> joe () rootwars org
> http://www.rootwars.org
> Hacking Games   Hands-on Courses
> HackLab Access
>
>
>
> Quoting chort
> <chort () amaunetsgothique com>:
>
> > On Sat, 2003-08-09 at 04:28, Mike West
> wrote:
> > > Guys
> > >
> > > I know you have probably been asked
> this question many times but here
> > goes.
> > > I am currently a security enthusiast
> and employed as a software developer
> > > for a large Telco company however I
> would like to get into the security
> > > field but I am finding it a very
> tight market to get into.
> > > How would be the best way to make a
> start in the Security field. As I have
> > > found that most company's will not
> look at your CV unless you have had 2
> > > years proffesional
> experience/certification and you can't
> get a
> > > certification until you have the
> experience etc.
> > > Thanks in advance
> > > Mike
> >
> > For me it was dumb luck.  I jumped out
> of University half way through a
> > CIS degree to get started in tech
> during the boom.  Initially I was an
> > advanced troubleshooting technician
> for an ISP, then I moved to another
> > ISP, then to an e-mail hosting
> provider where I spent several years.
> > After the hosting provider laid me off
> for the second time I did the
> > usual round of posting resumes on job
> sites and re-motivating myself to
> > self-educate.  I finally finished
> reading Building Internet Firewalls
> > from O'Reilly, which turned out to be
> a very smart move.
> > By dumb luck one of the leading e-mail
> security companies contacted me
> > (because of my e-mail background) and
> thanks to the fact that I was
> > aware of security best practices and
> techniques, I got the job.
> > Now I'm loving InfoSec.  It's
> everything I always wanted to do, but
> > never thought I had enough experience
> for.
> > My advices is to read some good books
> (such as Building Internet
> > Firewalls, and Hacking Exposed) and
> take some time to play around with
> > setting up different operating systems
> at home, then locking them down
> > and connecting them to your network
> (it helps to buy cheap old boxes at
> > a used computer shop or on eBay).
> Obtain an entry level certificate if
> > you have the time and money (maybe the
> Security+ or SSCP).  Then just
> > cross your fingers and hope for an
> opportunity.
> > --
> > Brian Keefer
> >
> >
> > --------------------------------------
> -------------------------------------
> > --------------------------------------
> --------------------------------------
> >
>
>
> ----------------------------------------
> -----------------------------------
> ----------------------------------------
> ------------------------------------


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