Moving from desktop support/infrastructure to security

GLaDOS

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice on certifications or skills to work on in order to help me move from my current role to a more security-focused role such as security analyst or security admin. In my current role I do mostly desktop/remote support and projects, but also have an opportunity to perform security functions such as AV management, desktop patching, and user access provisioning and re-certification.

I currently hold my A+, Net+, Sec+, and GISF and am figuring out what certification to pursue next to help advance my security knowledge/skill set and also help me to get interviews. I have also built a home lab to teach myself different OS's and technical skills.

I was hoping someone could recommend some skills that may be worthwhile to learn (or certifications to consider). Any recommendations that would help get my foot in the door to my first true security role would be greatly appreciated!

devilbones

What type of security role are you looking to do? A vulnerability management analyst might conduct scanning or prepare reports or patch systems or all of that. It is a broad topic.

techfiend

If you want to stay happy get into servers, networks, databases or applications for a few years first. Countless amount of people get into security early on in their career and hate it. Ask yourself if you want to spend your days log diving, creating reports or simply watching for alerts.

That's not to say infosec is boring and mundane but the interesting positions require knowledge in the technology which entry level infosec jobs are unlikely to offer.

GLaDOS

That's an excellent question - I agree that the field of information security is incredibly broad. Right now I'd just love to get into a security analyst type of position to get myself started with building experience - eventually I think I'd be interesting in either being on an incident response team, a firewall admin, or possibly work in network security.

GLaDOS

Thanks techfiend. I would not be opposed to working under a network admin either as I think I would enjoy one day working in network security. With the experience I've gained at my current employer, I've really enjoyed all of my security-related responsibilities.

GLaDOS

So I've been trying to decide what to do next after renewing my Security+ and tbh I'm kind of spinning my wheels right now.

Ultimately, I think I would like to work towards a career in either network security or possibly incident handling. However, in order to do that, I think I'm going to need to move out of my current role into a new role. In my current role, desktop support is becoming more and more of my entire day leaving no time for other security-related responsibilities.

So I'm trying to figure out what my next step is. Right now, I'm thinking I should work on some specific skills in the VM lab I have set up. I also would like to start thinking about the next certification that can help me land the next job. With this in mind, I have two questions which I would really appreciate help with:

1. What are some good skills to learn in a VM lab? I see a lot of different tools, languages, etc. that all seem relevant depending on what type of role you're in (i.e. pfsense, wireshark, bash, etc.) What would be some good skills to teach myself that would help me land a new role (either as a security analyst/admin or in some type of networking role maybe?)

2. What would be a logical next certification to look at? I'm thinking possibly CCNA (followed by CCNA:Security) or CEH.

My apologies for the long-winded reply. I'm just feeling stuck right now and not sure what next steps to take. Any suggestions would be most appreciated, as always. Thank you.

I hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend, as well!

Remedymp

You can always try looking at the CASP.

CIO

LGaDOS, I'm in the same situation as you are. My entire IT career to date has been desktop support and general tech support. This year i decided to focus on security; specifically network security. So far i haven't been able to land a IT security analyst role. Currently A+, Network+, Security+ certified.

If you're looking into network security, i would say go with CCNA>CCNA Sec> maybe CCNA wireless or any from CWNP...Also CompTIA is coming out with the Cybersecurity Analyst cert and Cisco is coming out with the Cisco Cyber Ops cert

I'm currently studying and labbing for the CEH & CompTIA CASP but those two certs seems to test on a high overview of IT security.

Keep us posted on your journey