It has been quite some time since I have updated this blog, so here we go. If you've been following me, you know that I was studying hard for the CCNA. Long story short, I did not pass it. I missed it by about 150 points. I then retook the exam after more labbing and studying and failed the exam again by a similar amount of points. I decided to change course for the time being and focus on cybersecurity. With my Comptia A+ and Network+ expiring in February of 2022, I decided now was a better time than ever to recertify them for another 3 years and gain knowledge in information security by going for the Security+. I put in about 3 months of studying and passed my first try! The Security+ is considered e"entry-level" as far as infosec certs, but was by no means an easy exam, especially for someone relatively new to security and with no professional security experience. I had to memorize about 20 pages worth objectives, which you can see here:
https://www.comptia.jp/pdf/Security%2B%20SY0-501%20Exam%20Objectives.pdf
I passed with a 763, so ..it was close. I have been doing IT Support/helpdesk for about 4 and a half years now and this completes the holy trio (A+,Net+,Sec+) for me. My best advice to those planning to go for this cert is to power through those questions. You don't want the clock to run out with 10 or 20 questions still left (granted, I am a sloooww test taker.) I know you can flag the questions, but I always tell people - Just hit the question once and give it your best. Don't bother going back to any. Here's what worked for me, if anyone cares:
*Mike Meyers Sec+501 course on Udemy (Mike Meyers is tha man, his nack for breaking things down and keeping the energy on is the best thing about his courses)
*Professer Messer's 501 videos and his practice question sessions (though I probably watched more videos from Meyers)
*Jason Dion's 501 practice exams on Udemy (comes with 6 practice exams, questions were good. I would say they were fairly in line with the real thing...though the real thing DEF hit me with some curveballs!
*Black Hills Infosec Intro to Security online 4-day course. I cannot say enough great things about these guys and gals. Pay-what-you-want, interactive labs provided via VM, and taught by some of the absolute best in the industry. This course really let me get my hands dirty with infosec and was really awesome. I'll be attending many more of their events in the future.*Printed out the objectives list and put chickenscratch notes all over all 20 pages of that sucker, highlighted ALL the acronyms I didn't have memorized and did my best (though to be honest, I never succeeded in memorizing absolutely ALL the acronyms. There's just SO many on there).
Next on the agenda: Labbing and getting more hands-on with with tools like Wireshark, Metasploit, netcat, and more! Stay tuned for more of my IT journey!
