Hi everyone! Welcome to a little piece of my mind and to be a part of my life journey. I started this blog as a reflection of my journey to break into the Cybersecurity domain, to share my interests and passion in all the new things I’m learning in Cyber, and to keep myself accountable to lifelong learning.
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As the temperatures drop and the sun sets earlier, summer is ending and fall begins! So much has happened since my last update in July, but I have really buckled up and studied hard these past months.
I’m so proud to have passed my CompTIA Security+ exam in September.. And rewarded myself with a three week trip to Japan immediately after passing!
September was eat, sleep, breathe Security+ and this is the road map for what I did for the two weeks prior to my exam. I re-did all of the CompTIA Certmaster modules and for any of the questions that I missed, I went back to Professor Messer’s videos and re-watched the specific videos a couple of times to ensure that I really understood the concept and when to apply it in specific scenarios and circumstances. I would do the CompTIA practice test too to see what concepts I was weak at. I struggled the most with Performance-Based Questions (“PBQs”) and so I watched Cyberkraft’s youtube videos for a walkthrough on answering PBQs. Cyberkraft does a wonderful job thinking out loud and this is crucial in understanding how to approach the exams and answer in a way that the exam wants you to. I would also do Jason Dion’s practice exams on Udemy and I was scoring in the 80-90% range for me to be confident in taking the exam.
My strategy was to do a variety of practice tests from different sources to test if you actually understand the concepts and the material, rather than memorizing certain answers and how the questions are phrased. I kept in mind that I won’t be able to memorize 100% of the material, I just need to understand most of it to pass and to recognize the terminology and understand the concept. I reassured myself that I would never feel 100% ready, and my best bet is to just take the exam and see what happens. I would figure it out from there. The worst case scenario is that I just pay for the exam again – that was reassuring enough!
Best case scenario – I passed the exam! All of my hard work paid off!!!
I took October off and went to Japan for three weeks. It was such a refreshing trip that made me appreciate what I have and the world around me. It was a great reminder to also take breaks, take trips, and enjoy what I have and what’s around me. The world is beautiful, and there is also way more than just cybersecurity. Take a breath, relax, stay driven and motivated, and work hard to achieve your goals and live your dream! If I can pass the Security+, you can too. I believe in you, and I believe in us!
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It’s been an incredibly busy month for me as I wrap up the month of June. I’m grateful for the friends and family that have taken time out of their schedules to celebrate my birthday with me (team Geminis!), and I’m even more appreciative of those who have been a part of my late-night studying sessions. We may not be studying the same thing, but there is something comforting about having company there with you at 11PM and onto the next day to suffer in silence with you. 😊
Currently, I have finished watching all of Professor Messer’s Security+ training videos – which are all free on YouTube! I highly recommend going through his videos for anyone hoping to start their studies on CompTIA’s Security+. I’ve also finished watching all of Jason Dion’s videos on Udemy, which I also suggest going through. The next steps are to start going through practice questions and tests from CompTIA CertMaster!
Professor Messer is an excellent start as he goes in depth for each individual topic covered on the CompTIA Security+ exam. You can find the list of all objectives/topics covered here. He explains the terminology, importance, and relates the topics to real life examples that are crucial in understanding its relation to security.
Jason Dion’s courses on Udemy is condensed and well organized as he breaks down the key topics within the Security+ exam and groups them up. This makes the CompTIA objectives less daunting as it is organized into categories of security. I found the Authentication category very challenging as there were a lot of small critical details that required memorization. Overall, Jason Dion’s course is very cohesive and his link of the overall objectives in the CompTIA Security+ makes it extremely easy to understand the key topics and overall picture. The best part is that the course includes compiled notes in a .pdf format that allows you to follow along and focus on retaining the information, rather than scrambling to take notes.
Although Jason Dion’s Udemy couse is not free, it is worth paying for. A hack I wanted to share is to wait until they have the sale, which would significantly reduce the course to approximately CAD $24.99 (or it was when I purchased it!). Keep an eye out, refresh, and visit the site on incognito to see if you can snatch this course for a way lower price.
We can do it! Stay consistent, stay engaged, take breaks, and most importantly, review, review, review!
Vivian's Decryption of Cybersecurity 