Career Advice for Infosec?

JY457

Hello,

I am currently enrolled in a 2-year university, looking to transfer in the next year to complete my bachelors in Computer Science.

This forum is filled with people who have genuinely expansive knowledge in the field of infosec, so if I wanted to get 'into the field of information security' (which, I understand, is a very broad statement to make) what should I be studying/working towards in my free time? OOP languages like C++, Java or scripting languages like Python? Studying network infrastructures and how the TCP/IP stack works? I have a general understand of just how broad the spectrum of 'information security' can be, but if someone here has any advice they can give as to what would be most useful for me to study I would really appreciate you input.

Also, if anyone reading this is either a digital forensics analyst, general IT security analyst, or network admin I would love to hear your advice on what resources or areas I should be focusing in as well as some of the things you work on/work with daily.

TheFORCE

You are on the right path. Study network infrastructure and how the TCP/IP stack. Basically learn networking. Start with something simple like Network+ and then CCNA.

Networking is the fundamental block of Security, everything traverses the network. So, the person that knows networks can become a really good security person. Once you are in that field you will get to learn how to capture packets, how to interpret different outputs etc etc. If I had to do it all over again, I'd start there. Once you start working in networking you will discover that there are things that you can automate and then you can start learning scripting. Usually people take up scripting because they have a repetitive task and they get tired of doing it manually so they script it and then learn more and more. Thats usually what drives people to new skills, its the necessity to improve or automate something.

JY457

Perfect, thank you for the advice and taking the time to reply