WGU MSISA - Start Date 1-1-16

So I was a bit on the fence of when I was going to start my Master's. Initially, I was going to wait a while and focus more on certs, but once I saw that they offered the CEH and CHFI, I was a little intrigued. Then once I saw how much I'd have to start paying in student loans, I decided hey why not? Those are two certs I wanted to try to get anyway, although I'm not sure how it'll work out with the experience requirements for the CEH since I have two years of IT experience but not directly security related.

Either way, I'm excited. Hopefully I can complete it in two terms, but no more than three. I thought this program was the best one since I plan on getting into infosec within the next year and it's the most interesting program by far. I don't see many jobs yet asking for a Masters, but definitely can't hurt and should only help me in the long run.

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PJ_Sneakers

Gotcha. Thanks.

markulous

Passed Risk Management on the first go. Got task 1 for Cyberlaw in taskstream now. Taskstream is the devil.

PJ_Sneakers

Nice! Keep up the good work! The President told me I had to take a break before I start the MS. Kinda bummed, but maybe I'll be able to start in April or May.

TranceSoulBrother

Don't worry too much about Security Policies too much. I passed all tasks with no kickback. The tasks are kinda vague but just structure your paper to "write to the rubric" meaning that your paragraph headers should be the rubric titles and just fill in the info in between.
what i hate is when they say that the "suggested length" is 1-2 pages for something but it ends up being 4-5 when all is said.

Dakinggamer87

markulous wrote: »

Passed Risk Management on the first go. Got task 1 for Cyberlaw in taskstream now. Taskstream is the devil.

Good job buddy keep it up!!

markulous

Thanks! Wanted to finish Cyblerlaw this month but doesn't look like that'll happen.

EnderWiggin

I'll be officially starting next Tuesday, but I already have all three Current and Emerging Technologies papers written, and am slowly working on Risk Management's one big assignment. I'm interested to see how my writing style will be handled in taskstream. I would love to have a flawless victory of no kickbacks throughout the entire program, but I'd settle for only half the papers haha.

TranceSoulBrother wrote: »

Don't worry too much about Security Policies too much. I passed all tasks with no kickback. The tasks are kinda vague but just structure your paper to "write to the rubric" meaning that your paragraph headers should be the rubric titles and just fill in the info in between.
what i hate is when they say that the "suggested length" is 1-2 pages for something but it ends up being 4-5 when all is said.

I have the opposite problem. There'll be a suggested length of 3-5 pages, and I'll be done in two....

TranceSoulBrother

EnderWiggin wrote: »

I'll be officially starting next Tuesday, but I already have all three Current and Emerging Technologies papers written, and am slowly working on Risk Management's one big assignment. I'm interested to see how my writing style will be handled in taskstream. I would love to have a flawless victory of no kickbacks throughout the entire program, but I'd settle for only half the papers haha.

I have the opposite problem. There'll be a suggested length of 3-5 pages, and I'll be done in two....

if you don't want kickbacks, don't skimp on the writing or the number of pages. It feels that it's about the number of pages at times and not the quality of the writing. That's been my experience nonetheless. I got a couple of kickbacks for Cyber law for that only for example

EnderWiggin

TranceSoulBrother wrote: »

if you don't want kickbacks, don't skimp on the writing or the number of pages. It feels that it's about the number of pages at times and not the quality of the writing. That's been my experience nonetheless. I got a couple of kickbacks for Cyber law for that only for example

Dang. That's a bummer. Well, I suppose it is to be expected for at least a few assignments, I just hope it won't be every single one....

markulous

Sure seems like they kick back the majority of them unless you overstate each rubric

Dakinggamer87

markulous wrote: »

Sure seems like they kick back the majority of them unless you overstate each rubric

They want it handed on a silver platter :P

EnderWiggin

I've been trying to emphasize everything in the rubric, but sometimes it just doesn't lend itself to being repeated over and over. Meh.

markulous

Dakinggamer87 wrote: »

They want it handed on a silver platter :P

Right? I feel like sometimes they'll only be appeased with a blood sacrifice on a solar eclipse.

EnderWiggin

markulous wrote: »

Right? I feel like sometimes they'll only be appeased with a blood sacrifice on a solar eclipse.

Good info to have, I'll start planning for the next solar eclipse.

markulous

Still on Cyberlaw but I turned in Tasks 3 and 4 (Tasks 1 and 2 are passed already) and waiting for evaluation. I meant to be done with this a month ago, but man...It's just hard to get going after dealing with Taskstream. It's almost like a kick to the nards when they deliver their "feedback". If this comes back good, I'll at least be technically done with my term and still have 3 months to spare. So I'll jump right into Cryptography since that's not a Taskstream course, just an exam. That one should take considerably less time I would hope.

EnderWiggin

markulous wrote: »

Still on Cyberlaw but I turned in Tasks 3 and 4 (Tasks 1 and 2 are passed already) and waiting for evaluation. I meant to be done with this a month ago, but man...It's just hard to get going after dealing with Taskstream. It's almost like a kick to the nards when they deliver their "feedback". If this comes back good, I'll at least be technically done with my term and still have 3 months to spare. So I'll jump right into Cryptography since that's not a Taskstream course, just an exam. That one should take considerably less time I would hope.

Ugh, Cyberlaw.... I despised that one. Multiple kick backs on all the assignments.... So many on task four that I had to have the mentor unlock it for me. Finally got it done after that though. I think part of my problem was writing all assignments from a law perspective (my background) though. The graders didn't seem to like my perspective on things, but I maintain I nailed all the assignments on the first go haha. Good luck with your last two assignments, I'll cross my fingers for you that the graders see the right key words.

I just started Crypto too, seems like it'll be fun. I haven't decided yet if I'll read the book all the way through, then do the U-something portion, then the Skillsoft videos, or if I'll do them in chunks the way the course suggests.... Have you thought any on that?

markulous

So far I haven't seen anyone that has enjoyed Cyberlaw.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do on Crypto. I honestly haven't even looked at the class much. Once these tasks come back good, then I'll shift my focus towards that. I'll probably skip some of the videos. I'll probably jump right into the pre-assessment first and see where I stand.

EnderWiggin

Gotcha. The pre-assessment was interesting. Good mix of common types of stuff, then some random stuff I've never even heard of. I'm definitely looking forward to this course, I'm excited to finally get into the technical stuff.

markulous

Getting into technical stuff is just the icing. The real joy here is getting away from Crapstream. This could be a knitting class for all I care and I'd be overjoyed for the change.

EnderWiggin

Hahahhaha yeah, that is definitely going to be awesome. I have one more assignment to fix up for Disaster Recovery, then I won't have to touch taskstream again until the Capstone (assuming that's the way to submit stuff there).

markulous

Task 3 and 4 both came back with revisions. However, task 3 only had grammatical issues. Somehow the content portion of it passed. Task 4 looks like maybe I misinterpreted what they wanted? I thought the two laws outlined needed to be laws the hackers broke, not two laws that the bank broke. But this seems to be the opposite. Here's their feedback:

"Two laws outlined in the submission are the United States Code, Section 1030(a)(2) and Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028(a)(7). It is not clear how identity theft relates to VL Bank or how it will be included in the report to Senior management. Per the task instructions, "Develop a report for VL Bank senior management regarding the cybercrime from the attached 'VL Bank Case Study''. The bank didn't do anything wrong in relation to identity theft."

EnderWiggin

For that part, I think that identity theft would be something that the individual customers would have to press charges for. When I did mine, I went with crimes that the attackers committed against the bank, rather than the individual customers.

I think the "bank didn't do anything wrong" comment is a bit weird. The evaluator may have misworded that....

markulous

Gotcha I'll choose another law. I found a pretty good resource for laws. Thanks

markulous

Task 1, 2, and 3 all good. Turned Task 4 in with revisions. Please please please be good. I'll be so happy to be done with this class.

EnderWiggin

Good luck. I'm in the same boat with Disaster Recovery, all but one has passed, just waiting on it to be graded, then I'll be done with all the paper courses

wallewolf

markulous wrote: »

So far I haven't seen anyone that has enjoyed Cyberlaw.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do on Crypto. I honestly haven't even looked at the class much. Once these tasks come back good, then I'll shift my focus towards that. I'll probably skip some of the videos. I'll probably jump right into the pre-assessment first and see where I stand.

I am having trouble with Cyberlaw right now actually, and I have a bit of a background in the field with cyberlaw. They will not put my task 2 through. I've already worked with a course mentor who actually approved of my paper before I submitted the most recent version of it. I took a chance and emailed both student and course mentors to see if there is just any way to appeal this process or something. I know. Not likely. But really it just feels like I'm being harassed by the graders at this point.

markulous

I finally passed so off to Cryptography.

@ wallewolf. I feel your pain. Task 2 was the worst for me. It has such a vague and open ended rubric but the graders want something specific that they won't tell you. The E care is a joke also since they don't actually do anything. I incorporated a SIEM in Tasks 1-3 and that seemed to appease them. For task 2 specifically I used HIPAA laws for my justifications

Dakinggamer87

markulous wrote: »

I finally passed so off to Cryptography.

@ wallewolf. I feel your pain. Task 2 was the worst for me. It has such a vague and open ended rubric but the graders want something specific that they won't tell you. The E care is a joke also since they don't actually do anything. I incorporated a SIEM in Tasks 1-3 and that seemed to appease them. For task 2 specifically I used HIPAA laws for my justifications

Yes Task 2 was a pain to say the least...

EnderWiggin

I can't even remember what task 2 was anymore. And I like it that way

I read through the book they give for Crypto, and that thing was terrible..... So grammatically poor, I feel like it was written by someone who speaks English as a second language. There were a few chapters that were fine, but the others ruined it for me....

markulous

I plan on reading the CISSP book they provide and study the practice exam. If I need more material I'll get some, but from what I've read it seems that should be enough.