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