Cyber Ops Question

overtheborder

Sorry if this has been asked, but I don't know where else to ask.

I'm in the current cohort, working on the fundamentals test.

Are the materials, questions and labs enough to get you to pass? I'm used to reading a book, buying boson and using that to get me prepared for a test. It looks like there's just questions at the end of each page and not a test environment in the end.

Is there something I'm missing? I've never had a cisco course before.

Thank you!

Chestnut

The voucher code covers two attempts at each exam. Go take it tomorrow and tell us the answer
j/k

Word on the street is that the material in the course is enough to get you through SECFND. The labs are pure gold. It's easy to watch the little videos, answer a couple questions, and gloss over the material. But actually having the entire virtual environment, that you have to walk through the steps from several machines and devices, really solidifies the concepts. Much more than a practice test in my opinion.


BTW, I'm also in cohort 4 and planning to take the exam as soon as my test center has some early morning slots open. Good luck, you can do it!

shochan

I heard you need to read both NIST 800-86 & 800-61r2 docs as well (from a previous TE post)...apparently they throw in some of this material into both exams.

https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-86/final

https://csrc.nist.gov/publications/detail/sp/800-61/rev-2/final

scaredoftests

Watch out, a lot of the questions are not covered in the training. So, go through the outline.

overtheborder

Phew thanks everyone!

Thanks for the help!

greg9891

Did you guys have a hard time taking the scholarship prequalification exam.

scaredoftests

No, it was easy.

greg9891

Oh ok cool I'm working on the exam for cohort 5

GeekyChick

You could buy the books from Cisco. They sell both the SECFND and the SECOPS books. With the books you get more online test questions. The books weren't available when I took the SECFND test but I did get the SECOPS book when it became available. I felt like what Cisco taught us in the SECFND class was enough to pass.

scaredoftests

AND it wasn't. I just got fed up. LOL

Chestnut

I took this exam this morning and wanted to circle back to you @overtheborder. I have to agree with most of the other posts out there that I have read. The material provided by the scholarship for SECFND is all that is needed to pass the exam. After completing the course, I printed the exam topics and reviewed them by going through the end of chapter tests if I felt I needed to fill in any gaps. I was only able to attend/view one of the cohort sessions, but I finished all of the virtual labs offered throughout the course.

Hopefully that helps!

overtheborder

Chestnut wrote: »

I took this exam this morning and wanted to circle back to you @overtheborder. I have to agree with most of the other posts out there that I have read. The material provided by the scholarship for SECFND is all that is needed to pass the exam. After completing the course, I printed the exam topics and reviewed them by going through the end of chapter tests if I felt I needed to fill in any gaps. I was only able to attend/view one of the cohort sessions, but I finished all of the virtual labs offered throughout the course.

Hopefully that helps!

Thanks so much, it really does help. I want to sit in the next week or two for SECFND, I think i'm going to make flash cards for the challenge questions and try to go over them on a daily basis, does this sound like a good idea?

TheFORCE

Chestnut wrote: »

The voucher code covers two attempts at each exam. Go take it tomorrow and tell us the answer
j/k

Word on the street is that the material in the course is enough to get you through SECFND. The labs are pure gold. It's easy to watch the little videos, answer a couple questions, and gloss over the material. But actually having the entire virtual environment, that you have to walk through the steps from several machines and devices, really solidifies the concepts. Much more than a practice test in my opinion.


BTW, I'm also in cohort 4 and planning to take the exam as soon as my test center has some early morning slots open. Good luck, you can do it!

Can you elaborate more on what the lab consists of? Do they have firewalls that you need to configure? SIEM's or any other device or machine types, tools that you need to work with? Basically, what type of a lab is it?

Chestnut

TheFORCE wrote: »

Can you elaborate more on what the lab consists of? Do they have firewalls that you need to configure? SIEM's or any other device or machine types, tools that you need to work with? Basically, what type of a lab is it?

Each lab is a little bit different depending on the chapter, but they usually consist of Ubuntu, Kali, Windows, Security Onion, a Cisco router, etc. Some are running web servers, some are running multiple SIEM tools, Kali of course has its fun set of applications. You learn a topic, say attack vectors, and at the end of the chapter, you fire up the lab and go and perform the attacks on a vulnerable machine. And if you're learning about IDS, you fire up SGUIL and ELSA, and BRO, and Wireshark, and see what your attack looks like from an analyst perspective.

There's up to 60 steps to perform in each lab. If you get stuck, it will give you a walk through for each step with pictures. Labs took me between 30 and 90 minutes each.