Recently I have set a reminder in my phone to remind me to make updates for my page more frequently. I have been terrible about that. This is going to be a quick life update. Not much exciting going on as far as tech goes.
The highlight of my update I will go ahead and get out of the way. I got my CySA+ certification. It was a bit funny how this turned out. The lady that does CompTIA tests at work called me and asked if I was interested in CySA+. The only caveat, I had to take the test within the next three days.
I accepted, This is a free voucher for the exam. If I fail, I get to see what the exam is like, if I pass, then that is a huge win for me. I took the exam 2 days after accepting this offer. I did not prepare for this exam whatsoever. All I did, was print the exam objectives and 10 minutes prior to going in to take the exam, I looked over them pretty quick.
I just barely passed but I passed. I will take it! On an additional note. I also accepted a voucher to take Linux+ as well. That exam I actually wanted. I was informed a while prior to taking that exam that it was a possibility. I began studying for it but eventually quit because I had Network+ scheduled. I spent my time focusing on that exam.
I went back to the Linux+ because I had an additional week after CySA+ before I was scheduled to take Linux+. I did spend quite a bit of time that week studying for Linux+ but I went through the material and information quickly thinking I would retain it all.
Unfortunately, I did not pass Linux+ like I did with CySA+. But that is OK with me. I know what to expect on it now and I can prepare more thoroughly and I will get it next time. I have a new goal to be Linux+ certified by my birthday.
Now, I have to get back to Network+ so I can pass that exam in a few weeks. Prior to taking Linux+ I looked up as much as I could about other people that have experienced this exam. Most of those people said it was incredibly difficult.
Several people mentioned that they had several questions relating to Git and Docker. I had a minimal number of questions on the two of those combined.
I was honestly expecting that part of the exam would be general Linux knowledge. I did not get much of that at all. This exam was heavy on questions related to various Linux commands. Out 0f 64 questions, Probably 40 of them were asking which command or series of commands would be best suited for the scenario or information provided in the question.
Now that I know the exam is heavily focused on actual commands used in Linux, I will know what to study based on what I remember seeing in questions.
The Linux+ exam is extremely important to me as this is what I enjoy most in technology, Linux and open source.
I want to get this Network+ exam out of the way first, then I will focus all of my energy on Linux+. I also plan on getting some more Linux certifications from the Linux Professional Institute as well.
For the CySA+ exam, I fully expected that I was going to take this exam and not even come close to passing. While preparing for Security+, I over-prepared because it was my first certification. That is what helped me pass CySA+. I feel like being able to read the questions for the exam and think about the best answer is what helped me pass. While that is obviously how you pass any and every test that you take, CySA+ is not an entry level exam. I prepared for Security+ for roughly three months. For CySA+, I prepared (If you can even call it that) for 10 minutes. Having a solid foundation with security topics was essential in me passing that exam.
I have been spending a ton of time lately preparing for certifications and suddenly added two onto the Network+ studies. Once I get Network+ out of the way, I plan on taking a small break from studying and then I will begin to tackle Linux+ again and give that exam the proper attention that it needs so I pass the next time.
Due to me passing CySA+, I have a renewed interest in security (not that it ever went away) but I want to learn more and push myself even more.
I have decided to ditch Windows on my old computer and install ProxMox. I want to setup virtual machines with various different tools and become familiar with them. Off the top of my head, I want to set up Snort, Security Onion, and Wazuh among others. Perhaps I will revisit the honeypot that I setup for a class project while in college.
I plan to document all of this to post on my website here as I go through.
I should be tackling the ProxMox install in the very near future. I will document that and plan to post that here soon.
Until then
Talk to you soon.