Career Goals in Cyber Security: Course Application

Introduction

The course was an excellent primer to real world network security. There was, at least for most people interested in this type of technology and myself, very little of the course that I was not at least familiar with from past experiences. There was, however, a lot of labs that gave me a deeper understanding of exactly how to properly use Linux Kali. Linux Kali is a superb tool for a network security analyst and having the ability to dig into the OS, try a lot of features I had not used before, and get some real world experience will prove invaluable moving forward with my IT cyber security career. It is very important to me to have this type of real world experience. Although we only touched a small portion of what Kali is capable of the labs helped me to build confidence in working with the system. The course provided a solid base of technical skills that I continue to expand upon and develop a more rounded skillset for my future as a system security analyst.

Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills

During the labs, there were several instances where it became necessary to think a bit outside the box. The lab instructions themselves were very well laid out and did not require much critical thinking or problem solving to follow along. It was important for me to take a deeper look at what we the students were doing in the lab. Instead of just blindly following the instructions I like to think about each step in the process. What is it that we are doing. Why are we running NMAP? How does the exploit through Kali achieve our goals?

There were several times in this course I would use google to help me better understand better a particular step in a lab. Take my NMAP example for instance. I had not used Nmap much in my current career or on my home network. I was curious as to what the command was doing, why I needed to run, and what the results told me about the system I used it on. The ability to use my critical thinking and problem-solving skills to dig deeper into the NMAP gave me a better understanding of how to properly map a network. Another example would be using lab itself. There was a couple of occasion throughout the course where the lab software would not work. I had to use some problem-solving skills to figure out what was causing my issue with the VM software and how to correct the issue.

Translation of Skills in Cyber Security

The vast majority of the skills I acquired in this course directly translate into real world skills that would are required for a successful career as a network security analyst. Knowing how to map a network system, identify the weak areas, and how to harden the system against attacks by plugging those weaknesses will be invaluable both in my professional career and also when setting up and securing my home network. Learning the basics of how to use the programs in Kali will prove invaluable. Of course, more research will be needed to get full use of the software included. Having the foundation will make researching the required information easier as I’ll have a starting point for my research.

Conclusion

This course will also help me when setting up and troubleshooting patient monitoring network in my current career. There are many times we have network issues that affect the way our system communicates. I can apply the skills I’ve learned in this course, gathering and analyzing logs, to determine the cause of communication issues and have a base understanding of what the hospital IT will need to do to remedy the issues. This knowledge will help me provide a better working relationship with the IT teams I collaborate with on installs and repair. Overall, I found this course both enjoyable and extremely useful in helping to prepare me for a career in the IT cyber security field. Below you find the matrix with an example of how I perceived my understanding of the core course outcomes and how I displayed those skills throughout the course.