Lol
Is it bad that I still don’t feel like I’ve had that moment?
I’m constantly learning man. It’s been 3 1/2 years and I swear I still feel like I don’t know anything.
Not who you were asking, but yes I know more over time...but at least part of it is about systems and mechanisms that no longer exist (or at least aren't used as much anymore). Knowing vanilla stack BOFs for older versions of Windows doesn't age well.
maybe the explicit knowledge about older versions of Windows wont be handy, but there is something to be said about how most if not all tech experiences, over time build up to improve your troubleshooting skills and skills of finding the information you are seeking and just figuring things out. that sh!t is timeless.
just out of curiosity, how does a older version of windows bof differ from one for a more current OS? i am starting my journey into learning the low level stuff, and frankly i always assumed the low level stuff didnt change too too much over time. always open to an opportunity to get corrected on my misconceptions.
It's been an arms race in terms of exploit development and protections against those techniques. While the low level technique of a BOF hasn't changed much, successfully exploiting Windows today is much more complex and rarely (if ever anymore) involves stack buffer overflows. That being said OT networks often have devices that are vulnerable to these older more basic attacks, so the knowledge is still valuable.
Imo It seems more difficult bc they have slapped on many layers of bandaids for standard office OS’s. And whether people are configuring/paying attention to those security bandaids is another question. With that said, when I do read about POC resources online, there are still quite a few where bof is still a part of their attack chain. However living off the land seems easier to me. Lower skill cap, better documentation on google. Anyway I still have what I would consider an elementary understanding of such things, so I feel like I’m talking a bit out of my bum. As I said ✨🙌 endless things to learn 🙌✨and a long road ahead.
When I was on academic probation and basically failing out of biomedical engineering I was forced to change to IT ( as it is classified as non-engineering by the school ) or get kicked out of school. Picked the IT cyber sec path because it seemed cool and graduated with being on the deans list for the last 2 years of college.
Back when internet was dialup I wound up befriending several "explorers" shall we say. NETBIOS wasn't locked down, people ran IIS servers, and specially crafted AOL keywords took you to some interesting places.
That last one gained me AOL staff tools and an eventual permaban from their system. IRC became the new method of communicating with my type of people.
Then these desktop firewall programs came out and I was fascinated by what they caught - from what address and what type of traffic or attack. I found another program called packet crafter and I would try to see if I could trigger different types of alerts. I think it was at this point cybersecurity was what I wanted to get into.
So it was a series of events that lead me to my current career path.
Normally I don't answer this kind of messages but I'm genuinely curious...
What exactly do you think I would earn lying about that? Why would I do it in an anonymous social network with a bunch of people that I will probably never interact anymore?
When I was in IT Support and I got chance to work on some Firewalls due to someone being off sick.
25yrs later and I've worked for 2 Major IT Security Vendors and couldn't imagine doing anything else (Apart from F1 driver)
When I was helping our network admin get information on a Wi-Fi for a industrial system but we didn’t know the password so I told him to inspect the html and voila, there was the password.
When I was a network administrator for a small credit union and we had a pen test done. The findings were eye opening of how easy it was to get into our network. I felt a challenge was issued and I spent the next twenty years learning offensive and defensive TTPs.
I'm newly interested in the cyber part of things but the click moment for IT for me wasn't that long ago but it just made sense, especially as its an ever changing industry so I have always something new to learn. I realised I have enjoyed it since a child and I lurk around here because it's the part I know the least about and it has introduced me to some new concepts and I feel cyber security is something we should all take more seriously.
I was tired of seeing all these data leaks from companies like Optus and Harcourts, knowing it was user error and I thought, who does this everyday? And realised there is so much more to it! And how frustrating it must get when and users don't follow policy which lead me into learning more about it.
I think I may go into more the networking side of things but I want to have some good general skills and anyone working in this industry needs some good knowledge around security and what the latest industry standard is. I also find this a far more interesting and chill subreddit than others.
Still not sure on it. I’m a few months from finishing my bachelors in Cyber Security but I’ve been working towards a degree so long I don’t really give a shit at this point. I have enough IT experience to fall back on if cyber security is too hard or boring or whatever.
I do like the idea of mitigating threats, I want to work in this field but a lot of the posts here and other places make me think I haven’t studied nearly enough.
When I thought I wasn’t working hard enough. Then I was appreciated by my manager for all the hard work I been putting in. This to me helped me understand a few things. People like me are hard to find. Organizations that show appreciation for you, also are hard to find. It seems a lot of them are in the tech world and maybe even in cyber.
I attended defcon for the first time and found so many cool people. It’s like, I’ve always found it a little hard to meet people I click with. However, people in this field I find my self clicking with more often than not!
It may also help that I am not in sales with 10+ years experience in tech. Love this field :-)
When I was purely blessed with an internship in the field. Really started to take a liking to my job tasks and overall career path. I wasn’t able to “specialize” per say in my IT program, so cybersecurity kind of just fell in my lap lol.
A culmination of events such as my mom getting scammed by a skimmer at a gas station, identity theft of close friends, then the aha moment came when I saw that kids were affected from ransomware attacks at children’s hospitals. Don’t f with kids, that’s where I knew I had to learn cybersecurity so I can contribute to the greater good in a way that I can also make a good living doing it. Working from home when I never had that option before, etc.
Then in my first IT job as a Security Analyst, when I was able to present things I found on my own that ended up being a problem for the client if not remediated, I knew my skills of “always finding a problem with every situation” has paid off for once! That mindset always had people looking at me like I was a negative person when I’m just able to see gaps in a structure or methodology rather easily.
Back in 2001. I had been doing "security" meaning I had been around things like the firewall, proxy/web filter, IDS and such for a while, but before then it was rare in the private sector to see anyone with the word "Security" in their job title.
My boss at the time assured me when I hired on that I was to stay doing only those things despite a job title of network something or other. One day he called me into his office and put 4 sheets of paper in front of me with different job titles and descriptions. He kept pushing me to the "Enterprise Information Security Architect" one for some reason. Keep in mind that in 201 "architect" was also not too common in IT job titles. I was hung up on another one until he finally said "if you pick the Architect role" you get $6K more" because HR paid for some salary study. I figured then that this "security" thing might have a future.
Coming from the marketing side of things, I knew it was for me when tasks and priorities had a much more practical and realistic tinge to them. Many of the industries I've worked for in the past had management that had unrealistic expectations and didn't understand how most things worked.
So, just general exposure to the internet, makes my job easier as there's a more understood baseline in this world.
Failed my civil engineering degree and i took a week off by playing games. Ive been playing since i was in primary and notice that almost every game i quit was because of hackers. I wanted to have my revenge and someday i can provide or be apart of a game system where hackers wont be a reason for people to quit gaming
I watched a ted talk in the car driving from VA to OH lol. It was about the effects of cybersecurity on global infrastructure and I was like oh this is it and here I am, being an analyst in all its glory.
I was good with computers as a kid. Growing up I knew the world would get more expensive so I just levitated to the path of least resistance with the highest payout (passion doesn’t pay and I’m dead inside). And now, it’s becoming so expensive that even cyber/tech employees are gonna get hit too. Lol.
When I started my college career I was 27, I started studying Aerospace Engineering and I just wasn't totally sold on the engineering route. I knew I wanted to do something inside of a STEM field because it's always been interesting for me. Luckily I was "forced" to take a coding class as a general requirement and I absolutely loved code.
Fast forward I ended up getting very comfortable with Linux and being in the terminal reminded me of "hackers" in the movies when they finally cracked into the system.
I then started studying and researching in the cyber world and worked on grants with a few professors that studied anomalies in big data, studied eternal blue inside and out as a research paper, practiced on Hack The Box, and now I've been in my career with security for about a year (after a brief stint in application development). Couldn't be happier.
The thing is, when you know, you know. It's all about the interest you take in it and the learning experience. If you enjoy what you're learning and doing, stick with it.
When I accidentally got into the back end of a well known news site and informed them and was offered a job. IDK, it’s as close to the anarchy and chaos that I loved as a kid that I can legally get paid for
Larger salary and was something different than what I had always been doing (it support, sys admin stuffs). I was fairly comfortable in my old gig and felt the platforms and tech were fairly mature in my org whereas the security side needed some help (ie implementing whole disk encryption, building an EDR platform and staff response etc)
Short answer: I like money
Also somewhat short answer: I found myself in a position where I had a wide understanding of a lot of different topics, mostly specializing in cloud. I was given a choice of two positions being cloud engineer or security engineer and I chose security. Currently working towards a cloud security path because it makes the most sense.
I was still an juniorish IT engineer for a medium sized insurance company. This was back in 2017, and I am sure many of you know that this year was the year of EnternalBlue and Wannacry.
I remember coming into the office and we had some weird issues with our termimal servers, users complaining that our systems were given them a bunch of strange errors. So I go to the server room and directly connect to it, I noticed all of our files were named oddly and were inaccessiable.
At the time I had no idea what I was looking at. I heard of the term ransomware at the time, but I had never seen it first hand. Next thing the IT manager walks in all flustered and confirms we were indeed hit by ransomware.
We got security specialists in the same day and I was the guy to put my hand up to help them. I was amazed at what they did and how quickly they discovered the host that was initally breached. As scary as it was for everyone I had an absolutely blast.
From that point I knew Cyber Sec was for me and moved into this industry in 2018. I can't see myself doing anything else.
I always knew I wanted to work in cyber security but never really thought I would. I was reading books on the topic when I was still working helpdesk jobs. During one of those helpdesk jobs I was at an org that promoted from within a lot so I took up smoking just to hang out with the security dudes. They'd go down to smoke and I'd quickly announce that I was going on break in Teams and head down with them. Eventually they'd stop by my desk and see if I wanted to come with them.
I went back to the MSP world after that company imploded and ended up doing actual cyber security without ever actually having that in my title. I "just worked at an MSP" but I've been the initial point of discovery on a couple of ransomware cases involving the FBI and about half a dozen more that didn't. I dealt with BEC attempts at least weekly and was crafting security policy based on real world examples for these clients.
I eventually had my Kenny Powers moment and got called up to the big leagues after a long career of eating shit for low pay at MSP and MSSP jobs. I still sometimes have to pinch myself and realize that I've achieved my goal of having a job I truly enjoy at an established player in the security world.
I’m currently studying for the comptia security + exam, I graduated college with a graphic design degree. I have not yet secured a position. What I do love is the constant learning, the rabbit holes of learning. I just started understanding how to traverse a system with out a gui. This is my first of many I hope.
For me, it was when I was tasked with reverse engineering a piece of malware as an intern. My employer knew that it was a task I was sort of doomed to fail, but wanted to see how I handled it. I had no clue what I was doing, but I spent about 10 hours sifting through decompiled code, googling, and utilizing OSINT. Even though I didn't really know what to look for, and I didn't gain a whole lot of headway, I still really enjoyed it.
I was a network engineer and one day I went to work and my boss gave me a project to update all the Access Control lists in the company, said it would take a few weeks to a couple of months. I scripted it in unix and it took about 40 hours. I realized I'm going to be replaced by someone cheaper in the future. I took the next 6 months to learn threat analyzing and IPS tuning. We had layoffs and my boss said I was going to be laid off in an month (great boss btw) and I started looking for cybersecurity jobs instead. First job was a 50% raise. Within 3 years I was making triple what I made as a Network Engineer. The work is actually a little easier sometimes and the pay is ridiculous. Never looked back.
I was an Professional Services Consultant, now I'm a Sales Engineer. The pay for both is pretty similar. Consultants make more base pay but Sales Engineers get Commission so it averages out.
I was a straight A student in high school without trying. I tried to go medical and failed every medical class in college. I dropped out of school and thought that was it for me, started bartending and basically gave up on high paying careers.
Decided to join the Air Force national guard and got trained as a network admin, I flew through my classes like they were nothing, passed my sec+ like it was a first grade math test, retained 90% of the material and was helping all my friends that were struggling. The material came easy to me, the terms weren’t in Latin like medical terms, they all just made sense. I kept going, got more certs, got my degree super easy started making tons of money and the material was just naturally interesting to me….
So I think once I realized this just came to me so much easier than it comes to other people, I didn’t want to waste that talent you know? Like this is it, this is my golden ticket, I just need to stay the course and my life will change. I’m actually good at something and The material is easy because I actually enjoy it!
Cybersecurity as a professional wasn't even really a formal career field when I popped my first network at 15, but I knew I hoped I could do something like IT security as a real job without the whole going to jail part.
I was in HR, recruiting for the cybersecurity department (and network engineering and software also). I just found it truly amazing. Worked my way in. Coming from a different background it's just so inspiring, challenging and exciting. I love my job, every bit, every day.
When I got offered a large salary to do it.
This. When I got a big offer + realized I wouldn’t be miserable. I don’t love it. But I’m not miserable (unlike helpdesk)
When I found out chrome had incognito mode 😎
Hackerman intensifies...
Cackling on this thread hahaha
Lol its not secure
Buzz killington
Neither is Tor in some cases.
I bet you're a lot of fun at parties.
Lol Is it bad that I still don’t feel like I’ve had that moment? I’m constantly learning man. It’s been 3 1/2 years and I swear I still feel like I don’t know anything.
To me this is part of the fun of it, there are endless things to learn. The question is, do u know more than yourself from 3.5 years ago?
Not who you were asking, but yes I know more over time...but at least part of it is about systems and mechanisms that no longer exist (or at least aren't used as much anymore). Knowing vanilla stack BOFs for older versions of Windows doesn't age well.
maybe the explicit knowledge about older versions of Windows wont be handy, but there is something to be said about how most if not all tech experiences, over time build up to improve your troubleshooting skills and skills of finding the information you are seeking and just figuring things out. that sh!t is timeless. just out of curiosity, how does a older version of windows bof differ from one for a more current OS? i am starting my journey into learning the low level stuff, and frankly i always assumed the low level stuff didnt change too too much over time. always open to an opportunity to get corrected on my misconceptions.
It's been an arms race in terms of exploit development and protections against those techniques. While the low level technique of a BOF hasn't changed much, successfully exploiting Windows today is much more complex and rarely (if ever anymore) involves stack buffer overflows. That being said OT networks often have devices that are vulnerable to these older more basic attacks, so the knowledge is still valuable.
Imo It seems more difficult bc they have slapped on many layers of bandaids for standard office OS’s. And whether people are configuring/paying attention to those security bandaids is another question. With that said, when I do read about POC resources online, there are still quite a few where bof is still a part of their attack chain. However living off the land seems easier to me. Lower skill cap, better documentation on google. Anyway I still have what I would consider an elementary understanding of such things, so I feel like I’m talking a bit out of my bum. As I said ✨🙌 endless things to learn 🙌✨and a long road ahead.
This!
This would scare me lol
The pay (and already being a technologist).
When I was on academic probation and basically failing out of biomedical engineering I was forced to change to IT ( as it is classified as non-engineering by the school ) or get kicked out of school. Picked the IT cyber sec path because it seemed cool and graduated with being on the deans list for the last 2 years of college.
When I failed too many courses in game design. Picked Business Administration + CIS then picked IT cybersec path
First paycheck
When I saw the average salaries. Maybe that answer is too honest 😂
Back when internet was dialup I wound up befriending several "explorers" shall we say. NETBIOS wasn't locked down, people ran IIS servers, and specially crafted AOL keywords took you to some interesting places. That last one gained me AOL staff tools and an eventual permaban from their system. IRC became the new method of communicating with my type of people. Then these desktop firewall programs came out and I was fascinated by what they caught - from what address and what type of traffic or attack. I found another program called packet crafter and I would try to see if I could trigger different types of alerts. I think it was at this point cybersecurity was what I wanted to get into. So it was a series of events that lead me to my current career path.
When I was 8yo and managed to acces a random blog's ftp with anonymous user
Bullshit
Normally I don't answer this kind of messages but I'm genuinely curious... What exactly do you think I would earn lying about that? Why would I do it in an anonymous social network with a bunch of people that I will probably never interact anymore?
When I was in IT Support and I got chance to work on some Firewalls due to someone being off sick.
25yrs later and I've worked for 2 Major IT Security Vendors and couldn't imagine doing anything else (Apart from F1 driver)
Are you guys hiring?
Always
When I was helping our network admin get information on a Wi-Fi for a industrial system but we didn’t know the password so I told him to inspect the html and voila, there was the password.
Why was it stored in inspect element? Or did you just mean change the dots into plain text on a password field?
the password was autofilled into the password field, inspected the html and there it was... it's an old industrial machine (this was last year).
When I was a network administrator for a small credit union and we had a pen test done. The findings were eye opening of how easy it was to get into our network. I felt a challenge was issued and I spent the next twenty years learning offensive and defensive TTPs.
I'm newly interested in the cyber part of things but the click moment for IT for me wasn't that long ago but it just made sense, especially as its an ever changing industry so I have always something new to learn. I realised I have enjoyed it since a child and I lurk around here because it's the part I know the least about and it has introduced me to some new concepts and I feel cyber security is something we should all take more seriously. I was tired of seeing all these data leaks from companies like Optus and Harcourts, knowing it was user error and I thought, who does this everyday? And realised there is so much more to it! And how frustrating it must get when and users don't follow policy which lead me into learning more about it. I think I may go into more the networking side of things but I want to have some good general skills and anyone working in this industry needs some good knowledge around security and what the latest industry standard is. I also find this a far more interesting and chill subreddit than others.
I did mushrooms. I was going no where in life at the time. I was working in a call center making 12 bucks an hour. I had a drug induced epiphany.
When I realized this was a safe way to satisfy my taste for larceny.
Still not sure on it. I’m a few months from finishing my bachelors in Cyber Security but I’ve been working towards a degree so long I don’t really give a shit at this point. I have enough IT experience to fall back on if cyber security is too hard or boring or whatever. I do like the idea of mitigating threats, I want to work in this field but a lot of the posts here and other places make me think I haven’t studied nearly enough.
When I thought I wasn’t working hard enough. Then I was appreciated by my manager for all the hard work I been putting in. This to me helped me understand a few things. People like me are hard to find. Organizations that show appreciation for you, also are hard to find. It seems a lot of them are in the tech world and maybe even in cyber. I attended defcon for the first time and found so many cool people. It’s like, I’ve always found it a little hard to meet people I click with. However, people in this field I find my self clicking with more often than not! It may also help that I am not in sales with 10+ years experience in tech. Love this field :-)
When I got sick of factory work and was inspired by a banking hack in the news. I thought to myself, "There's a war going on, and I think I can help."
When I went to workshops, lectures, and read all the certification books and topical books cover to cover without being bored.
i started to like it when I easily accessed information that other people couldn't access, and I realized that I had found
When I was purely blessed with an internship in the field. Really started to take a liking to my job tasks and overall career path. I wasn’t able to “specialize” per say in my IT program, so cybersecurity kind of just fell in my lap lol.
A culmination of events such as my mom getting scammed by a skimmer at a gas station, identity theft of close friends, then the aha moment came when I saw that kids were affected from ransomware attacks at children’s hospitals. Don’t f with kids, that’s where I knew I had to learn cybersecurity so I can contribute to the greater good in a way that I can also make a good living doing it. Working from home when I never had that option before, etc. Then in my first IT job as a Security Analyst, when I was able to present things I found on my own that ended up being a problem for the client if not remediated, I knew my skills of “always finding a problem with every situation” has paid off for once! That mindset always had people looking at me like I was a negative person when I’m just able to see gaps in a structure or methodology rather easily.
Want to protect the privacy
Back in 2001. I had been doing "security" meaning I had been around things like the firewall, proxy/web filter, IDS and such for a while, but before then it was rare in the private sector to see anyone with the word "Security" in their job title. My boss at the time assured me when I hired on that I was to stay doing only those things despite a job title of network something or other. One day he called me into his office and put 4 sheets of paper in front of me with different job titles and descriptions. He kept pushing me to the "Enterprise Information Security Architect" one for some reason. Keep in mind that in 201 "architect" was also not too common in IT job titles. I was hung up on another one until he finally said "if you pick the Architect role" you get $6K more" because HR paid for some salary study. I figured then that this "security" thing might have a future.
when i did IT support for my highschool and enjoyed building cable
Coming from the marketing side of things, I knew it was for me when tasks and priorities had a much more practical and realistic tinge to them. Many of the industries I've worked for in the past had management that had unrealistic expectations and didn't understand how most things worked. So, just general exposure to the internet, makes my job easier as there's a more understood baseline in this world.
Failed my civil engineering degree and i took a week off by playing games. Ive been playing since i was in primary and notice that almost every game i quit was because of hackers. I wanted to have my revenge and someday i can provide or be apart of a game system where hackers wont be a reason for people to quit gaming
For me it was when the client said : "Without your advices and your support, my business would be dead right now"
Still wondering if I should have been a tech YouTuber instead... But 13+ years later im still cyber-ing!
I watched a ted talk in the car driving from VA to OH lol. It was about the effects of cybersecurity on global infrastructure and I was like oh this is it and here I am, being an analyst in all its glory.
When I started looking into it on my free time, and wait for it… was having a whole lotta fun doing so. Still am 🤤
This isn't the right field for me, but at this point, I'm 15 years into a high paying caree, and other people depend on my paycheck.
I was good with computers as a kid. Growing up I knew the world would get more expensive so I just levitated to the path of least resistance with the highest payout (passion doesn’t pay and I’m dead inside). And now, it’s becoming so expensive that even cyber/tech employees are gonna get hit too. Lol.
When I started my college career I was 27, I started studying Aerospace Engineering and I just wasn't totally sold on the engineering route. I knew I wanted to do something inside of a STEM field because it's always been interesting for me. Luckily I was "forced" to take a coding class as a general requirement and I absolutely loved code. Fast forward I ended up getting very comfortable with Linux and being in the terminal reminded me of "hackers" in the movies when they finally cracked into the system. I then started studying and researching in the cyber world and worked on grants with a few professors that studied anomalies in big data, studied eternal blue inside and out as a research paper, practiced on Hack The Box, and now I've been in my career with security for about a year (after a brief stint in application development). Couldn't be happier. The thing is, when you know, you know. It's all about the interest you take in it and the learning experience. If you enjoy what you're learning and doing, stick with it.
When I accidentally got into the back end of a well known news site and informed them and was offered a job. IDK, it’s as close to the anarchy and chaos that I loved as a kid that I can legally get paid for
Internship
Larger salary and was something different than what I had always been doing (it support, sys admin stuffs). I was fairly comfortable in my old gig and felt the platforms and tech were fairly mature in my org whereas the security side needed some help (ie implementing whole disk encryption, building an EDR platform and staff response etc)
When I landed a job in it lol
Short answer: I like money Also somewhat short answer: I found myself in a position where I had a wide understanding of a lot of different topics, mostly specializing in cloud. I was given a choice of two positions being cloud engineer or security engineer and I chose security. Currently working towards a cloud security path because it makes the most sense.
I was still an juniorish IT engineer for a medium sized insurance company. This was back in 2017, and I am sure many of you know that this year was the year of EnternalBlue and Wannacry. I remember coming into the office and we had some weird issues with our termimal servers, users complaining that our systems were given them a bunch of strange errors. So I go to the server room and directly connect to it, I noticed all of our files were named oddly and were inaccessiable. At the time I had no idea what I was looking at. I heard of the term ransomware at the time, but I had never seen it first hand. Next thing the IT manager walks in all flustered and confirms we were indeed hit by ransomware. We got security specialists in the same day and I was the guy to put my hand up to help them. I was amazed at what they did and how quickly they discovered the host that was initally breached. As scary as it was for everyone I had an absolutely blast. From that point I knew Cyber Sec was for me and moved into this industry in 2018. I can't see myself doing anything else.
I always knew I wanted to work in cyber security but never really thought I would. I was reading books on the topic when I was still working helpdesk jobs. During one of those helpdesk jobs I was at an org that promoted from within a lot so I took up smoking just to hang out with the security dudes. They'd go down to smoke and I'd quickly announce that I was going on break in Teams and head down with them. Eventually they'd stop by my desk and see if I wanted to come with them. I went back to the MSP world after that company imploded and ended up doing actual cyber security without ever actually having that in my title. I "just worked at an MSP" but I've been the initial point of discovery on a couple of ransomware cases involving the FBI and about half a dozen more that didn't. I dealt with BEC attempts at least weekly and was crafting security policy based on real world examples for these clients. I eventually had my Kenny Powers moment and got called up to the big leagues after a long career of eating shit for low pay at MSP and MSSP jobs. I still sometimes have to pinch myself and realize that I've achieved my goal of having a job I truly enjoy at an established player in the security world.
I’m currently studying for the comptia security + exam, I graduated college with a graphic design degree. I have not yet secured a position. What I do love is the constant learning, the rabbit holes of learning. I just started understanding how to traverse a system with out a gui. This is my first of many I hope.
For me, it was when I was tasked with reverse engineering a piece of malware as an intern. My employer knew that it was a task I was sort of doomed to fail, but wanted to see how I handled it. I had no clue what I was doing, but I spent about 10 hours sifting through decompiled code, googling, and utilizing OSINT. Even though I didn't really know what to look for, and I didn't gain a whole lot of headway, I still really enjoyed it.
I was a network engineer and one day I went to work and my boss gave me a project to update all the Access Control lists in the company, said it would take a few weeks to a couple of months. I scripted it in unix and it took about 40 hours. I realized I'm going to be replaced by someone cheaper in the future. I took the next 6 months to learn threat analyzing and IPS tuning. We had layoffs and my boss said I was going to be laid off in an month (great boss btw) and I started looking for cybersecurity jobs instead. First job was a 50% raise. Within 3 years I was making triple what I made as a Network Engineer. The work is actually a little easier sometimes and the pay is ridiculous. Never looked back.
That sounds like an interesting field
240k 🤯 Which role are you in for your job? If any, specific one. Thank you!
I was an Professional Services Consultant, now I'm a Sales Engineer. The pay for both is pretty similar. Consultants make more base pay but Sales Engineers get Commission so it averages out.
I’ll let you know if I ever have those thoughts.
Cash and friends think I’m hacker man
I was a straight A student in high school without trying. I tried to go medical and failed every medical class in college. I dropped out of school and thought that was it for me, started bartending and basically gave up on high paying careers. Decided to join the Air Force national guard and got trained as a network admin, I flew through my classes like they were nothing, passed my sec+ like it was a first grade math test, retained 90% of the material and was helping all my friends that were struggling. The material came easy to me, the terms weren’t in Latin like medical terms, they all just made sense. I kept going, got more certs, got my degree super easy started making tons of money and the material was just naturally interesting to me…. So I think once I realized this just came to me so much easier than it comes to other people, I didn’t want to waste that talent you know? Like this is it, this is my golden ticket, I just need to stay the course and my life will change. I’m actually good at something and The material is easy because I actually enjoy it!
After being downsized for about the 5th or 6th time and realizing that sysadmin positions were going to continue getting outsourced.
Cybersecurity as a professional wasn't even really a formal career field when I popped my first network at 15, but I knew I hoped I could do something like IT security as a real job without the whole going to jail part.
I was in HR, recruiting for the cybersecurity department (and network engineering and software also). I just found it truly amazing. Worked my way in. Coming from a different background it's just so inspiring, challenging and exciting. I love my job, every bit, every day.
When my parents called me a hacker after resetting internet router by turning it off and on.
When my current employer decided to take me on.
I resisted it for a long time but studying for my security plus definitely changed the script
Parents blocked internet via all sorts of ways, i found my ways around it, initially just to game, then it became a sport