The Ethical Hacker Network

test

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Some Questions

« on: March 08, 2010, 07:55:56 PM »

How do your strengths and weaknesses relate to your position as an Ethical Hacker?

For those of you who are studying to become an EH, what skills do you have already that would help you in your career?

For those who have already become an EH, what skills have you acquired already?

What is a good career path leading up to the EH position? In other words, what previous jobs have you had prior to your career in EH?


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j0rDy

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Re: Some Questions

« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2010, 06:41:05 AM »

first of all welcome to ethical hacker.net!

second of all, most of the questions are asked before and can be find in the search.

third of all i'll see if i can answer some of the shortly (just to be the nice guy).

strengths and weaknesses are the most important factor in ethical hacking. it all comes down to knowledge and the possibility to adapt to certain situations. if you know both it will make you better then the competition!

start by learning the basics of networking and operating systems. then know your way around tooling used and finally learn some solid programming skills.

skills are best learned in virtual environments. search for the pentest lab topics on this board.

if you really start at the bottom, learn some system admin skills. if you know how networks work you can move up. i personally went from my master study straight up to ethical hacking, which can be done, but sometimes its a lot harder then when you have a good foundation as for example as a system administrator.

hope i've helped!


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ISC2 Associate, CEH, OSCP, OSWP

earning my stripes appears to be a road i must travel alone...with a little help of EH.net

hayabusa

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Re: Some Questions

« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2010, 08:05:48 AM »

See my replies, in line and bolded:

Quote from: test on March 08, 2010, 07:55:56 PM

How do your strengths and weaknesses relate to your position as an Ethical Hacker?
I don't know about 'strengths and weaknesses' per se, but I think if you truly have a desire to understand the inner workings of things, know how changing those workings can effect a different result or outcome, and like challenge, EH work is very rewarding. I grew up with a father and grandfather who believed in 'tinkering,' whether with electronics, woodworking, machines, etc. Learning how things work together, understanding tools and their intended (as well as unintended) uses, and just being very hands on, is what led me to get into computers and programming, to begin with, and fed my desire to get into the EH field, down the road.

For those of you who are studying to become an EH, what skills do you have already that would help you in your career?
People skills are very important as an EH. Being able to read others, and understand their thought processes, ways of doing things, and how they react under certain conditions is a very handy tool. It also aids in using social engineering to gain access, where other means might not work out (such as exploiting via email or a commonly visited website, if the outer perimeter of a target doesn't appear to have any other flaws or openings.)

Knowledge of networking is important, so that you understand how to use remote scanning / mapping tools correctly, interpret their results, and gain / maintain access. Additionally, it doesn't hurt to have some background in programming, or at the very LEAST some idea of how a program is laid out, and functions.

Finally, community... by this, I mean, have people around you, or that you stay in contact with, who have like desires, skills and 'reasons for living' so that when you need advice, or are not quite understanding, you have folks to turn to. This is one of the BIGGEST things, for me, personally, as you can never have too many resources at your disposal, especially when you step into a new area or problem, and need to gather info quickly, to do your job.

For those who have already become an EH, what skills have you acquired already?
The most important thing I've learned SINCE becoming an EH, is further appreciation for the 'proper' ways of doing things. Using methodologies and standardized procedures and tools to do the work, often saves countless hours over the methods I'd used when I first started into the field. These were designed by others with the same goals as today's pentesters, and are a good baseline, so that you can progress quickly, and still have a reliable way of putting everything together, from the initial plan, the project scope, the work to be done and by whom, and giving final results and reporting back to the customer.

What is a good career path leading up to the EH position? In other words, what previous jobs have you had prior to your career in EH?
First, I worked in retail, where I had access to their IT and network, and could begin to see how things functioned, together, as a whole. Next, I moved into mgmt there, and learned how these things affected the business, how one piece relied on another, etc. Followed that by working for a pc / networking reseller, where I increased my knowledge of networking, security, and proper design. From there, went to work for a one of my state's largest school districts, where I ran the entire network and technology department. Finally, I currently work for a global networking / software / services company, that allows me to use my security skills, alongside the other knowledge, to help provide solutions for my customers, test our software and products for security, and team with others to promote security awareness, both within our teams, our customers, and others. Additionally, I do security consulting on the side, and participate in many open source initiatives, as well as contributing to the security community, through places like EH-net!

So, welcome aboard, test!


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~ hayabusa ~

"All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved." - Sun Tzu, 'The Art of War'

OSCP , GPEN, C|EH

zeroflaw

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Re: Some Questions

« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2010, 10:23:57 AM »

Well, I'm fairly new to the ethical hacking scene I guess. Started learning programming in a bunch of languages at college. I've done website development, embedded software and tons of desktop applications.

Third year of college we had these so called "specialization minors", you could choose to learn more about a certain subject. Ranging from webdesign to embedded software and RF-ID. I decided to do some more software development, and then I was really happy to find out that we could specialize in security with the "secure programming" minor. I've always found security and hacking interesting but never gave myself the chance to learn more about it.

We had to test some website for a real company before they put it online. There was a price involved, and the last night before the deadline I found some major bugs, and won Cheesy

I've been hooked with security ever since. This has been the only thing besides programming that I could pay attention to Tongue

I think dedication is really important. Don't assume things too quickly, find out for yourself.

Btw, welcome to EH-Net Cool


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j0rDy

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Re: Some Questions

« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2010, 09:52:07 AM »

Great story Zeroflaw, i guess all people need a motivator to get in the game. staying motivated is also very important, and be enthusiastic about the things you do!


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ISC2 Associate, CEH, OSCP, OSWP

earning my stripes appears to be a road i must travel alone...with a little help of EH.net

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