Introduction: So, I’ve been trying to re-write my blog, but I’ve been getting writer’s block. I don’t do challenges anymore, such as #100DaysofCode or #100DaysOfInfoSec, because, well, I have far too much on my plate. I stopped and started studying for Comptia’s Network+, but even then, the responsibilities on my plate outweighed earning a certification. Plus, learning to get a certificate made me more stressed. The point I’m making is I want to learn, and I want a job. To do that, I need experience, and well, for us beginners, you know how that goes. I recently purchased a book, “Sams Teach Y ..read more

First, it really was a privilege to be able to attend AfroTech 2021 and be able to experience this during my senior year of university. Thank you to all that helped me get there What is AfroTech 2021? AfroTech is a digital and in-person conference held this year in what some may refer to now as the “metaverse”. The metaverse is the digital or virtual version of whatever world you’re in. You get to interact and network with other professionals through your avatar. There were the expo halls where you could speak with recruiters at their booths, but there were also other events hosted throughout ..read more

Prerequisites: Networking Knowledge as in OSI Model and Ports/Protocols Be able to install Wireshark Note: This is not necessarily a tutorial but coffee for thought on what I’ve learned so far based on a class I am taking. So, what is WireShark? WireShark is a tool used by IT folks to analyze what kind of traffic is happening on their network. This focuses on devices on their network, who they talk to, and how they talk to them. It’s a completely free tool and although other network analyzing tools exist, this is great for beginners to understand what exactly is going on in their home networ ..read more

Introduction Greetings. It’s been a while since my last post. Note to self, I need to start uploading my work from Notion onto WordPress in an efficient way. In the past week, I’ve been attending a SOC Analyst Prep course to learn more about the fundamentals needed to become one, and recently, we have gone over ports and protocols. Today, I wanted to take about 2 ports/protocols which will be SSH and DNS. What is SSH? SSH stands for Secure Shell Protocol. and uses port 22. It is a network protocol that allows for a secure connection between two devices/computers. It is an improvement upon Teln ..read more

Greetings y’all, welcome to another day with me on my information security journey (or trying to figure it out at least)! animated puppy waves I’ve been using a learning platform called Mossé Institute. They provide learning and training guides for those interested in Cybersecurity. Now, if you have used a site called TryHackMe, this is not quite the same. I’ll be honest, it has a little less hand-holding as I’ve had to ask far more questions, and some of the documentation provided has not been as clear. However, the levels are listed as beginner, novice, etc. I am a student, so I was able to ..read more

Introduction Welcome to my first official blog post! I go by Alex or Alexandria. I am a senior undergraduate aiming to earn my bachelor’s in Cybersecurity. Some of you may know me as @alexandriastech on Twitter. I originally came to Twitter this past summer and had the goal of becoming a web developer. Well, things change. I’ve decided to focus on getting my first role in Cybersecurity by the end of next year; I graduate in May 2022. I’ve had a couple of internships in the past related to Cybersecurity; most of them being related to governance and compliance. Currently, I serve as an IT Securi ..read more

Date: Sep 14, 2021 Greetings to everyone who it may or may not be their first time on my blog. My name is Alexandria, and I am a Cybersecurity & Digital Forensics undergraduate. I took on the #100DaysofInfoSec challenge as a way of filling in the gaps that have been caused in undergraduate education (and especially with the pandemic). In my journey, I’ll make many mistakes but also, I’ll learn many things! To continue on from my last lesson, I’m learning different commands to learn how to manipulate STDIN and STDOUT files! grep command If we use the man command from last time, when we type ..read more

Date: Sept 08, 2021 Currently still using the Roppers’ Academy course Goal: Complete Over the Wire: Bandit 0-4 So far, so good. I have used SSH which is how you can connect your computer to another computer over a secure connection; this is how they will talk to one another. SSH stands for secure socket shell. Bandit Level 0 → Level 1 This required a ls command so that I could see the password for the next level and then SSH into there. Bandit Level 1 → Level 2 This was a unique situation for me because I had not remembered how to open a dashed filename: ex. –. I used the cat ./- This allows ..read more

Date: Sep 07, 2021 Networking concepts have always been difficult for me to understand (especially when you cannot see what you are talking about). In this exercise, I was able to set up a listener by opening a second terminal. From my first terminal, I was able to run commands and see outputs on my listener. Definitions: NAT Bridged IP addresses (assigned by local router) Public IP address Local IP address STDIN STDOUT STDERR Pipe curl telnet vs SSH ..read more

Date: Sep 06, 2021 So far, I’ve learned that when I am unsure of what a command does, I can use a manual provided Linux called man pages. To access this, I can use the command man. Here are some definitions that I would like to keep up with: Bridged IP Address NAT – Network Address Translation Traceroute For now, I’ve stayed up the past few hours doing homework and want to start with a fresh mind tomorrow on Networking ..read more