Security Testing Journal Entry | w/e Friday July 14, 2023 (Sunday Ed.)

Highlights for the week

Posting this a bit late on Sunday as things have been a mixed bag of busy and lazy. Some promising news on the job hunt!

What We Loved

1. My friend / potential manager reached out to let me know the role is in the final stages of budget approval.
2. Got a good idea for the Mentor - planning to learn more about the process of pentesting while I learn techniques.

What We Learned

1. Security+ - started Module 3 .. gonna be a long slog.
2. TCM - Finished Module 4 - OWASP Top 10. Need some more practice on DWVA.
3. Automation - made great progress on Espresso (Android). Even built a rig app to test against.
4. Databse Testing / SQL - learned schema testing.
5. Cult*ure - Chapter 14 is coming along quite nicely. Some interesting character developments.

What We Longed For

1. More time. My plans for the week were hijacked on Wednesday due to personal priorities.
2. Longing for a paycheck, but I've articulated the vision a lot clearer and working towards manifesting it.

What We Loathed

1. A few jobs rejected my application this week. Yet the roles for ones I was rejected for in the past showed up again .. wth!!

Security Testing Journal Entry | w/e Friday July 7, 2023 - Independence Day Ed.

Highlights for the week

Another successful week. Hit several goals, and have acquired a new mentee (who knew!). A couple of other new connection wanted to discuss some Cybersecurity testing basics. Sadly, these meetings didn't manifest themeselves. Worth a note is unblocking myself and making great progress with the Pentesting Course.
Unemployment remains blech!! But I really truly feel my job is waiting for me.

What We Loved

1. I'm honored having been asked to mentor someone. Not my first time "coaching" someone, but I'm opting to be the mentor I haven't had.
2. Made great progress with learning Espresso for Android.
3. Making great progress with the book as well. Story is evolving beyond what I had laid out.

What We Learned

1. Network+ - Done! Need to find pop quizzes.
2. Security+ - Finished the modules regarding Architecture & Design.
3. TCM - Moving through the OWASP Top 10. Will definitely write a "Security For No0bs" post.
4. Automation (web) - Finished what I could for Playwright w. Python. Fascinating framework.
5. Automation (mobile) - Made decent headway with Espresso after being blocked with the Gradle build process. There's still a bunch to learn.

What We Longed For

1. SQL - this has to be a must do next week.
2. Espresso - continued practice.
3. WebdriverIO - this keeps popping up. I should pivot from Appium Automation to learn this.

What We Loathed

1. Unemployment. 15 jobs, no recruiter call backs. Ghosted by another recruiter. The grind is taking it's toll and money is running out.

Security Testing Journal Entry | w/e Friday June 30, 2023

Highlights for the week

Another week in the grind. Got to moving through some Security+ stuff, attended a fascinating podcast, and unblocked my TCM learning module. Unemployment now at 9.5 months .. not good at all.

What We Loved

1. Friends reached out on Linked in and text
2. Great chat with a mentor
3. Took on a mentee. She's based out of France and interested in Cybersecurity as well.

What We Learned

1. Security+ - Learned about Physical Security Controls and currently moving through Cryptographic concepts
2. TCM - Unblocked the module and am so excited to start on the OWASP Top 10
3. Cult.ure - moving along quite nicely. Will bounce back in this weekend

What We Longed For

1. A great paying job!!

What We Loathed

1. Unemployment and recruiters who ghost.

Security Testing Journal Entry | w/e Friday June 23, 2023

Highlights for the week

A couple of goals hit this week. Finished Network+ modules, but haven't take a quiz. Unblocked the PWST Lab but getting an error building some of the modules. The workaround has been to use TryHackMe lab. Hit the 9 month mark with unemployment. It's bad out there!!

What We Loved

1. Networked with a contact at iHeart Radio. Sent my resume for a possible job.
2. An old friend reached out to me regarding some AI stuff.

What We Learned

1. Network+ - Completed. I'll probably circle back soon and quiz myself. The goal was to learn the fundamentals.
2. Security+ - learned about resilience. The goal is to double my efforts. The goal to get certified has changed .. too expensive.
3. PWST - Finished Lab 3 section. Onto OWASP Top-10.
4. Cult.ure - Getting good with chapter 10. 11 is on deck.

What We Longed For

1. Learned about Google Cybersecurity Cert. Seems really nice.

What We Loathed

1. Job market is the worst. Been ghosted a couple of times this week. Got a few rejections as well.

Security Testing Journal Entry | w/e Friday June 16, 2023

Highlights for the week

BIRTHDAY TODAY .. WILL FOLLOW UP THE WEEK'S PROGRESS NEXT TIME!!!

Security Testing Journal Entry | w/e Friday June 9, 2023

Highlights for the week

Lot's of interesting things happened this week, none having to do with landing a new job.
The first thing: As I write this, there are wildfires in Canada that span the breadth of the territory which caused a massive amount of smoke to waft across the upper-half of the United States. New York had poor air quality, with Tuesday and Wednesday being the worst. It looked like something out of the apocalypse.
The second thing: Disclosure of top-secret documents relating to the existence of UFOs/UAPs. Turns out there are sections of the US Government that are in possession of alien space technology and have come in contact with beings from another planet.
The third thing: the former President of the United States was indicted on 37 counts of espionage. It doesn't look good.

What We Loved

1. In my last blog post, I mentioned the TCM Course. After moving through most of the module, I wound up filling up all 20GB of storage and got locked out. Loved that I was able to rebuild the VM (again!) and make progress. Need to re-do the lesson on Fuzzing Word Press login

What We Learned

1. Network+ - Lots of trouble shooting (Hardware / Software). I'm at the end
2. Security+ - Architecture & Design | Authentication & Authorization
3. TCM - Fuzzing Wordpress Authentication w. ZAP
4. Cult.ure - Inching my way through Chapter 9. Need to get disciplined
5. Personal - Forgot to declutter the books. Will make it a priority this week

What We Longed For

1. A good job with good people doing cool things

What We Loathed

1. UNEMPLOYMENT (creeping on 10 months)

Security Testing Journal Entry | w/e Friday June 2, 2023

Highlights for the week

New month, new ideas, same me. Job search is still unproductive, actually two rejections to date. The job I interviewed at is unresponsive. I'm not convinced I've been accepted. I also applied to a job that ghosted me. Not my finer moment, but I need money now. The coolest thing of the week is that I finally got the Kali box working and have been progressing through the tutorial. Playwright for QA Automation has been another cool framework to learn.

What We Loved

1. The Pen Testing tutorial has been fun. I'm on to a new section this week.

What We Learned

1. Network+ - Learned about the need to have a network be readily available and how to mitigate against potential disasters.
2. Security+ - Big section on Architecture, this module was about the secure app development process and the importance of having Security early.
3. TCM - Pen Testing Module 2 completed. Learned about fuzzers on a form.
4. Cult.ure - Stuck on chapter 9. Parsed out the majority to potentially be a new book. Rewrote the chapter to be more first-person (Dulci is telling the story).
5. Personal - with Reddit off my phone, I need to read more and declutter my email, books, links on Linked-In, etc.

What We Longed For

1. As always, a good job! But the right job, not just for a paycheck, but something that I actually want to do.

What We Loathed

1. Unemployment and the multiple rejections this week. Not cool!