Careful when creating indexes

I just started the SANS MSISE program. My first course is FOR610 Reverse Engineering malware. I am creating my index for the GREM exam (no you cannot have a copy to 'compare' it to yours). I attempted to add 'SEH' to my index. I looked up at my spreadsheet and saw 'SHE'. I changed it a few times before I realized that it was Excel and not me. I went into the Excel properties and found a large number of auto correct words. One of them was 'SEH'. I deleted this and some others but you may want to keep an eye on what you type when creating your index so this doesn't happen.

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Comments

[Deleted User]

Can I have a copy to compare to!

haha Good advice! I've had excel go and auto guess the word I was typing in when making my GPEN index and I almost got the question wrong on my exam had I not have remembered the concept from reading. Best of luck on the GREM exam! I would like to do this one but reverse engineering is something I have no to little experience in.

charismaticx

I completely agree. The index is just a reference but the books are gospel. Understanding the concepts are what really help you pass the exam.

gespenstern

Please share your copy, I really need to compare!

On a serious note, congrats on your SANS program, very cool, I hope the employer pays for it!

sb97

This is excellent advice.

TechGromit

quogue66 wrote: »

I changed it a few times before I realized that it was Excel and not me.

I started building my index about a month ago, I had some problems myself. My issues had to do with Excel thinking I was writing formulates.
.............................Book.. Tab
ip tables Parameters.. 1...... 22... '-4 ipv4, -6 ipv6, -p protocol (tcp, udp, icmp, esp, udplite, all), -s source address, ...

Excel would choke on something like this, but if you place a ' at the beginning of the line, it will mark it as a text field and not change anything.

I be interested in what your indexing. For example for some tabs I have 40 entries, like Book 2 page 20 where they go over all the different types of registers, than other areas I skip 5 or 10 pages because the book is going over a lab, and there's really nothing I can add to the index. Any suggestions for building the index?

quogue66 wrote: »

I attempted to add 'SEH' to my index. I looked up at my spreadsheet and saw 'SHE'.

Interesting enough I do not have that entry, not sure if you ahead of me with your indexing, or I just missed something. Is that "Structured Exception Handler"?

E Double U

I think you should share your index for a peer review. A second pair of eyes could find other mistakes you might have made.