Phone Interview for Info Sec Job

Hi all,

I have been working at a Help desk for 2.5 years now for a large health care system and there was a opening for a Info Sec Engineer I job posted for the same company so I applied for it.

Did not really think I was going to get a interview because I only have the 2.5 years of the Help Desk experience but no experience with info sec. I have a bachelors degree in Information Systems and am starting my MBA in IT management but am still kind of nervous because at the Help Desk, we don't really do much in the areas of networking or dealing with firewalls.

Before I got the Help Desk position, I got my Cisco ICND1 Certification thinking I was going to get CCNA because I had a tough time finding a job but no other certifications at this time. This was also back in 2010 so a lot of it I have forgot.

Any advice for this phone interview? I want to at least show that I can learn, want to learn, and willing to get any certifications required, but this position would be a great opportunity so I want to do anything I can (in the next 4 days haha).

Thanks

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Comments

jg372

150 views no posts...any advice?

MrAgent

Read up on the skills that they are asking for and be prepared.

pogue

jg,

Well, not to dispirit you bro, but this is a position that you are not really qualified for, and an InfoSec engineer is usually a person who takes a very strong interest in the technology outside of work.. I would go so far as to say that CCNA is an absolute minimum to have (at least knowledge-wise) to be able to do anything in that job, depending on what the job requirements are. Basic networking knowledge is a prerequisite for almost any InfoSec job.

The degree is all well and good, but in general, more than any other position, InfoSec requires actual experience in the field. You may not have gotten responses on this thread because there is nothing really to say that is going to be able to help you on this interview. You are either going to be able to answer the questions they ask you.. Or you won't.

InfoSec is really not a field where "learning on the job" is a viable option, if you are actively participating in securing the network.. As far as your 2.5 years experience, it may be worth more than you think, depending on what you've been doing to increase your knowledge and experience on your own... Do you administer your own network at home? Opened any ports on your home router/firewall to allow certain services to pass through? Do you have an app on your phone/tablet than scans networks you connect to to for open ports? Ever tried to connect to an open WAP and check to see if they've changed the default username/password for the HTTP service?

The positive thing is... All is not lost even if you do not get the job.. I can give you some advice on how to progress from that Help Desk job, cause frankly, 2.5 years is a LONG time to be working Help Desk without progressing.

Get certs. Finish your CCNA. USE the technology outside of work if they won't let you touch it at work. Get a copy of VMWare Workstation or a similar desktop virtualization solution and install an open source DNS/DHCP/Web implementation to learn the technology.

You have to stop waiting for a better position to come to you.. You need to be studying SOMETHING at least 90 minutes to 2 hours a day if you want to get out of Help Desk. It's harsh, but true.

Russ

cyberguypr

^^ that, and don't forget to wear pants. Oh wait, that's for Skype

Seriously though, a lot of companies look internally for talent before publicly opening positions so this is a good opportunity. As MrAgent said, understand what the position entails and be ready to talk about the responsibilities. If you don't know about something be honest and don't try to make crap up.

Best of luck.

colemic

pogue wrote: »

jg,

Well, not to dispirit you bro, but this is a position that you are not really qualified for, and an InfoSec engineer is usually a person who takes a very strong interest in the technology outside of work.. I would go so far as to say that CCNA is an absolute minimum to have (at least knowledge-wise) to be able to do anything in that job, depending on what the job requirements are. Basic networking knowledge is a prerequisite for almost any InfoSec job.

The degree is all well and good, but in general, more than any other position, InfoSec requires actual experience in the field. You may not have gotten responses on this thread because there is nothing really to say that is going to be able to help you on this interview. You are either going to be able to answer the questions they ask you.. Or you won't.

InfoSec is really not a field where "learning on the job" is a viable option, if you are actively participating in securing the network.. As far as your 2.5 years experience, it may be worth more than you think, depending on what you've been doing to increase your knowledge and experience on your own... Do you administer your own network at home? Opened any ports on your home router/firewall to allow certain services to pass through? Do you have an app on your phone/tablet than scans networks you connect to to for open ports? Ever tried to connect to an open WAP and check to see if they've changed the default username/password for the HTTP service?

The positive thing is... All is not lost even if you do not get the job.. I can give you some advice on how to progress from that Help Desk job, cause frankly, 2.5 years is a LONG time to be working Help Desk without progressing.

Get certs. Finish your CCNA. USE the technology outside of work if they won't let you touch it at work. Get a copy of VMWare Workstation or a similar desktop virtualization solution and install an open source DNS/DHCP/Web implementation to learn the technology.

You have to stop waiting for a better position to come to you.. You need to be studying SOMETHING at least 90 minutes to 2 hours a day if you want to get out of Help Desk. It's harsh, but true.

Russ

And bolded above is the chicken/egg argument. You need experience but can't get it, because... you don't have experience. But everybody's gotta start somewhere.

This is a great opportunity to get your feet wet in the security field. As a semi-professional cynic, my guess is that you are get a step-up from your current salary, not a large increase, if you are offered the position... and that would be because it is far cheaper than bringing in someone from outside the organization who has explicit salary requirements.

As a semi-professional optimist, I hope you get the job. Look at different security certs that will help you (CCNA can be beneficial, depending on what you actually do, but other certs should be looked at as well.)

jg372

Thanks all. Appreciate the advice. The phone interview is tomorrow so I'll follow up.

the_Grinch

Definitely got some harsh replies, which isn't a bad thing, but let's talk reality for a bit. It's well and good to get certifications, but as is usually the case you start to lose the knowledge when you don't use it. Yes having the CCNA would have been very beneficial, but if you aren't actively looking at configs and working on switches you'll slowly lose the knowledge. The other side is we don't know anything about the position. I once saw a hospital post for a Security Analyst and the job amounted to password resets along with configuring permissions for user accounts. On a final note, I had four years of full time help desk/field tech work before I got the security related position I have now.

As for your interview, without knowing what the position entails I'd say do the following:

Ports - know the major ones (ftp, telnet, https, smpt, etc) no matter the security position everyone has always asked me what's the port number for x

Terminology - know what a DMZ is and all the parts that would make it up, know the meanings of things like (SSL, SSH, etc). Know top to bottom how SSL works

Security Concepts - know CIA, strong authentication, layered approach to security, etc

The last thing most places will ask is, how do you stay on top of current trends? As others have said security is not a passive sport to be watched. Things change by the minute and require outside research to stay on top of it. Blog reading, certifications, home labbing, join organizations (InfraGard, HTCIA, etc) and coursework are all viable answers.

The biggest thing is getting the call. You obviously have something on your resume that made them believe you could be a fit. Having inside knowledge of the systems you are securing is usually worth it's weight in gold when compared to training someone from the outside to do the job. At the MSP I was at, they'd hire from the outside and it would take six months to get the guy up to working speed. Where as, if they had promoted within, the technical skills would have been picked up much faster then the soft skills and internal knowledge.

Good luck!