How to Succeed in Cybersecurity: Tips for Success in Cybersecurity

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• 03 Oct, 2023
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How to Succeed in Cybersecurity: Tips for Success in Cybersecurity

Introduction

Cybersecurity has developed and is popularized a lot in today’s world. As a result, a huge amount individuals are looking up to InfoSec as a career to live their life with. 

A lot of folks who are willing to start or just have started their journey in the field of Cybersecurity may face some challenges on their way for sure. One of those doubts everyone starting their journey in Cybersecurity has is, ‘How to succeed in cybersecurity?’

This question is a very common concern for all the newbies in InfoSec, and this article is going to help y’all with such concerns! Let’s learn how you can be successful in cybersecurity!

Understand the Basics to succeed in cybersecurity

A solid foundation ensures a sturdy structure, which is nothing but a fact. To have a strong foundation for cybersecurity, you must have strong fundamental knowledge of computer networks, operating systems, encryption, etc.

Such fundamentals possess importance in every cybersecurity concept, as all of them are related to components of cyberspace. e.g. In networking, the OSI Model refers to multiple layers of the network system. Following is a visual description of security attacks on each layer of the OSI Model:

Similarly, Operating systems can also be vulnerable to cyber-attacks, hence understanding multiple architectures is preferred to understand the basics of system architectures with a security perspective. Also, encryption is one of the core concepts in cybersecurity fundamentals, as it is a form of data security, which refers to the conversion of readable data into an encoded format. As a beginner, you must create a strong foundation for such cybersecurity fundamentals.

You can try out this learning path by TryHackMe to get a strong understanding of the foundations for cybersecurity.

Stay Informed

A new security comes with a new vulnerability

As the above line suggests, we must stay up to date with the latest cybersecurity trends. With time passing by, the cybersecurity landscape is evolving. Being informed about recent scenarios, not only helps to understand the new situation from a security expert’s perspective but also acknowledges us about the latest attack techniques and vulnerabilities, which can assist in enhancing an organization’s security posture with respect to the latest attack vectors. Now the question arises, HOW??

Following are some suggestions that can help to stay informed about InfoSec:

1. Subscribe to Cybersecurity news sources. (e.g. Cybersecuritynews.com)
2. Follow InfoSec experts, and pages on social media like Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. (e.g. @jhaddix, @hakluke, etc)
3. ENGAGE: Join online forums, communities, and discussions. Participate in webinars, meetups, and workshops. Engage with people in Cybersecurity.
4. Enroll in online courses and lectures, and improve contacts with experts.
5. Engage in practical learning and experimentation in Cybersecurity.

Overall, the stronger your involvement with the latest Cybersecurity trends is, the better growth you can achieve!!

Hands-On Practice

You cannot grow unless you get your hands actually working for cybersecurity. The more hands-on experience you have, the more your skillset is showcased. It is highly necessary to have practical experience in cybersecurity, whether it is related to blue teaming, red teaming, or something else. Along with understanding the cybersecurity concepts, if you are able to apply or implement them in real-world scenarios, your expertise is visible. For such visible expertise to lead to growth in cybersecurity, you must gain hands-on experience in cybersecurity.

There are various ways to achieve practical experience in cybersecurity, some of which are given as follows:

1. Practice on vulnerable labs, you may set up your own or you can just use readily available ones. (e.g. DVWA, OWASP Juice Shop, bWAPP, etc.)
2. Participate in CTFs(Capture The Flag) challenges, to gain hands-on experience in reverse engineering, code analysis, penetration testing, etc.
3. Attempt challenges and labs available on platforms like HackTheBox, TryHackMe, Portswigger Web Security Academy, etc.
4. Participate in Bug Bounty Programs, where you can discover and report vulnerabilities to organizations or companies. You may find such programs on Bugcrowd, Hackerone, etc.

Head for Certifications

Certification can play a huge part in your Cybersecurity journey. Keep a note that skills don’t necessarily require certifications, but certification requires skills. So in short, a cybersecurity certification is a documented proof of your security expertise. Hence, one must prefer achieving cybersecurity certifications and courses to get a professional worth in the industry. Talking about standard and in-demand cybersecurity certifications which are popular as well, we have entry-level certifications like CEH and CompTIA Security+, also eJPT is quite in trend nowadays. Let us know about those certifications in brief:

CEH(Certified Ethical Hacker)

CEH is one of the most popular cybersecurity certifications globally. This course and certification are offered by EC-Council, a leading organization in cybersecurity education and training. The CEH course program provides an in-depth understanding of ethical hacking phases, various attack vectors, and preventative countermeasures. Upon completion of the course, or with a relevant background in InfoSec, one can head for the CEH Certification Exam. The CEH-certified candidates are highly preferred by many companies and organizations for security-related job roles globally.

CompTIA Security+

CompTIA Security+ is another popular cybersecurity certification course offered by CompTIA. This is recognized as one of the best entry-level cybersecurity courses globally. Security+ provides self-paced lectures on cybersecurity fundamentals like security operations, architecture, threat and vulnerability mitigation, security program management, etc. After completion of the learning program or with at least 2 years of work experience in the InfoSec domain, one can appear for the Security+ certification exam. This certification is also preferred by many organizations and companies for entry-level cybersecurity roles.

eJPT (Junior Penetration Tester)

eJPT is another popular certification in cybersecurity. This is an entry-level certification course offered by INE Security. This course is fully focused on Red Teaming, with a penetration testing perspective. eJPT course program covers concepts like Assessment Methodologies, Host and Network Auditing, Host and Network Penetration Testing, and Web Application Penetration Testing. Furthermore, upon completion of the course, we can buy the exam vouchers and attempt the eJPT certification exam. eJPT may not always be preferred by organizations for entry-level jobs, but security experts worldwide highly recommend this certification due to its real-world scope of the course.

Time Management

Most of the people willing to grow in cybersecurity are either professionals or students. In such cases, we must learn to manage our time properly for cybersecurity upskilling and growth without harming our routine schedule. 

For managing time, we should prefer setting up a schedule with proper prioritizing of our goals and tasks, with time blocks for our daily tasks, and cybersecurity upskilling activities. Preferably in the case of cybersecurity, we can fix a single time block, each one for studying, hands-on practice, and networking, along with our regular schedule. Time management will play a key role in your cybersecurity growth, as it can help a lot to understand when to take breaks and when to upskill with dedication.

Practice Critical Thinking

This point may seem hard but for every hacker, critical thinking is the core requirement. As security experts, we need to think out of the box. Looking at things from a new perspective can help to understand complex scenarios. 

As a security expert, critical thinking plays a key role in understanding complex challenges in cybersecurity. We can take an example of solving Rubik’s cube. We can solve it by rotating the sides properly so that each side of the cube has one color only.

As we can see such a process requires a lot of logic and mental effort. But what if you can disassemble the Cube and just assemble it back in a way that each side has one color only?! Silly right, but it is possible.

Sometimes, critical thinking not only involves hard ways but any other way that can efficiently solve problems. Similarly, in the case of cybersecurity, practicing critical thinking is necessary to solve complex challenges.

Networking

Networking as well along with all of the above concepts, is one of the most important parts required for growth in the cybersecurity field.

Connecting with industry experts, specialists, mentors, and employees in cybersecurity is never useless. To grow and get a name in cybersecurity, you should get in touch with a professional network in the InfoSec communities. Preferably, we can connect to InfoSec leaders on platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, GitHub, etc. 

Networking in cybersecurity is not only limited to online we can also attend offline cybersecurity meetups, workshops, and conferences like NullCon, BSides, Seasides, etc. where various well-known names in cybersecurity gather for events along with all of the cybersecurity enthusiasts. In such a way, networking can help crucially for growth in cybersecurity.

Stay Ethical

Staying ethical, this statement needs no explanation as I feel you are well aware of the consequences of not following this rule!

Anyways, being ethical is not just a suggestion but a rule everyone must follow, may it be in your personal life, or in the cybersecurity domain. As security enthusiasts, you must know the rules and regulations while practicing and attempting practices like penetration testing on your targets. 

Without proper permission, you must not attempt security testing on targets. Also, before attempting to hunt for any Bug Bounty Program, you must read their policies and rules. Not following those rules and regulations may lead to disqualification, from Bug Bounty Programs.

Whenever you attempt to find a vulnerability in any system, make sure you are permitted by your target organization to perform testing, also responsibly report your findings to the organization. Always make sure none of your practices are harming an organization in any way and that you are following laws ethically.

Continuous Learning

Never stop being a student!

With time, you should never stop learning, despite your expertise. As discussed above in the topic of Staying Informed, new technologies bring new vulnerabilities. Hence, in cybersecurity, you will always have to keep studying new technologies in order to understand and look at them from a security expert’s perspective and understand the flaws.

Day by day, the threat landscape is evolving, in such cases, continuous learning ensures that we are informed about the latest threat and attack methodologies. As we say, you stop learning, you stop growing!

Soft Skills Matter

As we discussed earlier, for growth, we need to connect to people as well as manage our time as well. To get better at fulfilling such needs, we need to improve our soft skills. Soft skills like communication, time management, decision-making, leadership, teamwork, etc. can help in efficiently managing your cybersecurity growth. 

For example, good communication and leadership skills can help you showcase your cybersecurity expertise on public platforms, which can lead to impressive recognition in cybersecurity communities and improve your network.

Practice Secure Behavior

It would be funny if a security expert gets hacked, isn’t it?

Hence, as an aspiring security professional, along with growing your skills and network in cybersecurity, you must ensure your own security and privacy. When you possess a secure behavior, it depicts how much you actually follow the concept of security you work professionally for.

Follow secure practices like keeping strong passwords, using multi-factor authentication, not falling for phishing attempts, or reusing passwords, etc.

Secure behavior will make you habitual with viewing things as a security expert, which is a highly suggested idea for growth in cybersecurity.

Seek Guidance

As we said earlier, never stop learning!

We must never hesitate to ask for help, suggestions, and guidance regarding cybersecurity to anyone. Any kind of guidance will obviously be beneficial despite your experience and expertise. We must feel free to ask our doubts to relevant cybersecurity professionals. 

Also when you plan to improve your attack vectors, you may need guidance depending upon the target environment, hence you can ask and get guidance from any community online/offline or from any individual. 

Apes together strong!

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Conclusion

While wrapping up, we can ensure that all of the above points will definitely help you grow in the cybersecurity field. May it be technical or the rest of the soft skills, in the end, we can come to the conclusion that every little thing matters.

Overall, a few tips for growth in cybersecurity are:

1. Never stop learning.
2. Think out of the box.
3. Improve soft skills and networking.
4. Never hesitate to ask for help or guidance.
5. Follow ethical behavior.
6. Keep your skills improving.

FAQs