CASP Lab

TByrd450

Hi all,

I recently completed my CompTIA trio, and I'm looking for bigger fish to tackle. I just graduated high school, so I don't want to jump too far ahead. I have some IT experience, but not even close to the recommended. I understand that CompTIA over recommended, but I need to be able to put all the theories with a computer and work with it. I have a CASP book, but I want to be prepared for the sims. I am beginning college this fall; however, I will not reach my security classes until junior year when all my certifications expire. I will also be trying for CCNA: CyberOps when more information is released. What would be a good setup to learn all the technologies covered on CASP?

Ertaz

There are labs listed in the Sybex book. I've been reading the Pearson book, but I see lots of reviews referencing the Sybex labs as being helpful.

stryder144

Definitely, purchase/borrow the Sybex book for the labs. I have both the Sybex and the Pearson books, so if you can get copies of both you won't be disappointed.

As an aside, why don't you wait to take the CASP until next summer? That way the CASP will renew your trio and keep your mind in the game. To be clear, I am not discouraging you from taking the exam, just suggesting a timing strategy.

TByrd450

I didn't mean to convey that I will be testing this summer. I will in no way be prepared for it. I plan on taking the CASP next summer and studying for it with my first year of engineering course work. Right now I've got the CASP Cert Guide by Abernathy and McMillian, but I will look into those other books. I've also got the CISSP official study guide by Stewart, Chapple, and Gibson to supplement.

OctalDump

If I were to try to build a lab that emulated a good portion of what CASP might cover, it'd have lots of stuff.

Probably get a Cisco ASA or at least an ISR with security features (about $100), a server with E5500 or better CPUs and 32GB+ of RAM. A half decent network switch and router. And a bunch of VMs - probably 3 running Windows Server, at least a couple of Linux, maybe some 'appliance' boxes doing NIPS/NIDS or proxies, possibly a honeypot, and a couple of 'client' machines. You'd want to be running a few services: AD, Web, database, Radius, fileshares. With some services being external, some internal and some internal/external. And some vulnerability scanning stuff and pentesting stuff.

Then set up a logical topology where devices are zoned. At a minimum this would be the classic outside, DMZ, inside, but ideally would be more sophisticated. You'd want to then test the set up to make sure that the zones actually work and that the traffic goes where it is meant to and not where it shouldn't.

The CASP is quite broad as far as technology goes, so could be challenging without broad experience.