Back to Basics

My journey begins with the Google IT Support Professional Certificate. This certificate is designed to teach the skills required to be able to succeed in an entry level IT job. I have decided to complete this course as I would like to build a solid foundational knowledge of IT. I would say my current knowledge is limited at best and a hell of a long way off being able to collect and analyse digital evidence from cyberattacks. So here we are...

The course consists of 5 areas:

1. Technical Support Fundamentals
2. The Bits and Bytes of Networking
3. Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Super User
4. System Administration and IT Infrastructure Services
5. IT Security: Defense Against the Dark Arts (I'm looking forward to getting to this stage!)

I have begun the first course - technical support fundamentals - which aims to teach different areas of IT, such as computer hardware, the Internet, computer software, troubleshooting, and customer service. It is delivered over 6 modules and so I think I will aim to do a blog post after completing each module as a way to reflect on my learning, recapping the learning objectives and reinforcing my new knowledge.

Hence, this blog post can only mean one thing...I 've completed my first module! This module was an introduction to IT and the learning objectives were:

• To understand how & why humans went from counting using manual methods to calculating data with computers
• To describe what binary is & how we use it to communicate with computers
• To understand what the layers of computer architecture are
• To convert binary numbers into decimal form

In this module I learnt about the history of computing; how we went from an abacus to analytical engines, and how cryptography and advancing technology paved the way for modern computers, eventually leading to the creation of operating systems such as Windows and Linux.

I also learnt about computer language, the binary system and how character encoding enables us to read binary using standards such as ASCII and UTF-8, as well as how to count in binary.

Finally, I learnt the concept of abstraction and the four layers of computer architecture from hardware to the user. Overall I found this module quite interesting and enjoyed beginning to understand how computers actually work, not just "oh I click this and that happens" 😂.

On to the next module...HARDWARE!!

Dave

In The Beginning...

Welcome and allow me to introduce myself! My name is David Reynders, I'm 33 years old and a Forensic Scientist who lives in Coventry, UK.

The purpose of this blog is to document and track my journey as I retrain myself to pursue a career in Cybersecurity. It is clear to see that the future of Forensics is advancing into a technological era with cyber attacks on companies becoming a lot more common place. Therefore, I plan to position myself strongly as this industry continues to expand rapidly. 

As I have no experience in Cybersecurity and limited technological knowledge, I have outlined a clear pathway for myself in which I will study various courses to become certified in this field, as well as a number of projects I intend to complete along the way in order to display and reinforce the skills I learn. I believe that with these newly developed skills, coupled with my knowledge and experience of working in the Forensic industry, I will be positioned very strongly to begin a new career in Digital Forensics.

The route I plan to take is as follows:

• Achieve Google IT Support Professional Certification
• Achieve Google Cybersecurity Professional Certification
• Take CompTIA Network+ and Security+ exams
• Complete either CompTIA CySA+ or Security Blue Team BTL1 Certification (I think I'm veering towards BLT1 as it's a lab-based cert which will give me a lot more 'hands on' experience as opposed to just theory)
• Complete both SOC Level 1 and Cyber Defense lab-based certifications to further strengthen my 'real world' experience

Alongside these certifications I will also complete various projects with the view to enhancing and strengthening more specialist skills that will aid me in my new career. These are:

1. Microsoft Windows Defender & Firewall for beginners
2. Analyse network traffic with TCPdump
3. Wireshark for beginners: Capture Packets
4. Introduction to network traffic analysis
   
5. Introduction to active directory
6. Windows event logs and finding evil

As a side note, I also have a plan for further career development once I have landed a position within this industry. This includes working towards completing GCIH, GCFA and EnCE certifications in order to become a Forensic Specialist.

I am setting myself a target to complete all of my training within 12 months and intend to use this blog as a way to recap on the knowledge and skills I learn along the way, as well as to hold myself accountable. This is purely for personal use but if anyone does happen to come across my blog and it interests them, welcome and enjoy the ride!!

Dave