I think there'll be a bit more from him... hang tight.

Hacking along and preparing for certification

Ok, my labtime is officially over. I managed to get into about 60% of the hosts which leaves me with an unsatisfying feeling. If i knew the lab was going to be this big and hard i would have stared way earlier then i did now. i spend the first half working through the material which i could combine with playing around in the lab, but didnt. i suggest to start immediately if you want to get into the other subnets and make sure you get at least the 60 day course. The skill level of the lab differs from click and hack to complete manual procedures which makes it a pleasant environment to play in for everyone. You are certain to find a challenge regarding of the skill level you have prior to the course.

this brings me to one of the most burning questions at the moment: how hard is OSCP and is it suitable for beginners? i would say NO. If you have no prior knowledge in pentesting/ethical hacking this will knock you down and leave you in the gutter. Unless you have aquired the techniques of hacking and know how to penetrate systems you will have a very difficult time to gain the knowledge required to do well in the labs. I'm not saying its wasted time, because you will learn (a lot!) and you have sufficient time, you probably will have a decent chance to pass. i found it hard to find time because of my new job which kept me pretty busy and i guess you will have occupations too, so keep that in mind. Compared to CEH, wait...what is there to compare? i thought about this a long time but i cant seem to find any similarities between the two courses. the only way to describe it is as followed: CEH: start talking it. OSCP. start doing it!

At this point i am working on my report that you will need to hand in once the exam is finished. I am describing all the hacks i made within the labs and the exercises i made during the course. Remember to make it as complete as possible to make it look just as a real pentest report. I planned my exam somewhere next month, this give me some time to go over the material again and to put in some work on some of the extra mile challenges to make sure i completely understand all the techniques mentioned. i have no idea what to expect, but i am preparing for hell! wish me luck!

Next up: Exam time!
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This is my last update before i will take the exam this weekend. It will be less informative then the previous posts i made but i want to give you all a view on how i stand thowards the exam, mental wise. i cant stop thinking about the score hit monkey got on his first try. I believe we are skillwise pretty equal. Giving the fact i am only in security for about 1.5 years now, i almost cant believe how far i already came, but the big question is will it be enough? i really want to pass the exam just to prove i learned all these skills and that i can put them in use.

At this moment i feel pretty confident about the knowledge i have optained. The one thing that worries me most is the time window in which i have to operate. Because i am on almost the other side of the earth, none of the starting times are great. You have the option of choosing several starting times going from 4pm to about 22pm. This means you will have to pull an all-nighter, no matter how good you are. This gives the whole experience a nice ring to it though. Pulling an all nighter just like real hackers do in movies. Can you imagine the dark room, lighted by just a computer screen, and the only sound you hear is the soft thicking of the keyboard and the brain cracking of a hacker that is working his ass off to get that root-shell? just thinking about it makes me all hyped up to get stared! Luckily i took a day off (sort off) so i can prepare myself for this. i'm planning on getting plenty of food and drinks (caffeine is your friend is such situations) so i dont have to waste any time on less important things like if i have enough to fuel my body for this experience.

After practicing in the labs i found out that if i really put myself to it, i can hack most of the hosts without any real problem. The only thing is that when i do, i dont have a time limit in which i have to finish. Some of the hosts took me a really long time because of the extra knowledge required to make the actual hack. Luckily not everything is chewed out so you really have to think on your own to achieve the result wanted. Because of my slim pre-knowledge this takes me longer then with someone who has more experience. the best advice in these situation IS just to try harder. In the end i get there, but with significantly more time and effort. I think time will be my biggest enemy. Wish me luck and i will post my post exam experience when i'm ready to do something else besides sleeping.