TRY HARDER!!! (PWB/OSCP Collaboration)

Its that time of year. For US citizens...we are getting our tax returns back, which means extra funds for certifications. I am planning on enrolling in PWB/OSCP (Pentesting with Backtrack / Offensive Security Certified Professional) in early March. Planning on getting the 90 day lab subscription.

I'd like to get a small community of people together to collaborate throughout the course using the remote desktop Chrome browser application (I can provide assistance for anyone who needs help getting this configured). ALL ARE WELCOME!!! I think having multiple perspectives from people who are committed to completing this course will be invaluable. Everyone with their own separate skill set to contribute, and we can each learn from each other. Post here if you are interested, or contact me directly.

Currently, it looks like it is going to be myself and TechnoSecurity from these forums. The more the better.

***For the record, I only want to collaborate for the course. Obviously the exam is going to be a do-it-yourself.***

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YuckTheFankees

I have taken roughly 4 months off of OSCP to focus on school but I think I'm ready to start once again. I'll renew my OSCP course sometime in March.

Lessons learned from my last 30 day lab (I was able to get 8-9 boxes last Sept/October)
*Be able to write small scripts
*Understand programming and ASM concepts
*Be patient

the_hutch

AWESOME!!! Great to have you onboard!!

the_hutch

Pay $1,100 for 3 months of excruciating masochistic frustration, zero sleep, blurry vision from spending too much time in front of a monitor and having to replace at least 4 or 5 keyboards from bashing my head against them... Wouldn't miss it for the world

jasong318

arrrgghhh.. why couldn't you guys have started sooner?!?

have 18 days left in the lab, and you're wise to go for the 90 days, originally signed up for the 60 days and had to extend by 15 to finish everything. Word to the wise, make backups of your notes! or keep an old school physical notebook with your notes, lost a lot of time but not verifying some shellcode that deleted my vm

Good luck to you all and look forward to seeing you on the other side!

ramrunner800

I'm considering enrolling, and would be up for joining a study group. It's gonna depend on if work decides I should do C|EH (and if they wanna pay for it) instead. If it's my own cash I'll definitely be doing OSCP, as it looks like there's soooooo much more to learn in the course.

jasong318

Just my two cents ramrunner800, but i would go for the OSCP over the CEH. You'll learn a ton more from the handson labs and reporting and most infosec pro's look more favorably on the OSCP than the CEH. For the price, you will not find a better training program out there! Plus, if your employer does decide to pay for the CEH it will be a walk in the park after you've finished the OSCP course!

the_hutch

Agreed. OSCP is the best option. If I had to do it again, I would completely bypass the EC-Council certs. And true story, after OSCP...you could pass the CEH test in your sleep (you probably could anyways, lol).

the_hutch

jasong318 wrote: »

arrrgghhh.. why couldn't you guys have started sooner?!? have 18 days left in the lab, and you're wise to go for the 90 days, originally signed up for the 60 days and had to extend by 15 to finish everything.

Sorry man, bad timing. Good luck on your exam.

dbrink

I really wish I could start this with you guys but I'm going to have to wait another couple of months. My "study time" is pretty unpredictable right now with a 7 week old infant in the house. I don't want to pay for the class and not be able to use my lab time wisely and waste the money. Good Luck to you all and I'll probably keep tab on how everything is going.

the_hutch

For all who are getting onboard. My plan for collaboration is as follows:

1. Creating a shared dropbox account for easy file sharing.
2. Working on building a collaborative website with several features:

a. Dedicated discussion boards
b. Progression tracking
c. Member profiles with information about each team member (such as contact info, common days and hours they intend to dedicate to coursework, particular areas of expertise, etc...)
d. A check-in/check-out option, so that we can each see who in the group is working on course work at any given time, and available for contact.
e. List of helpful resources discovered by team members

3. Standard configuration tutorials to allow any members to have shared desktop access with any other members.
4. Video conferencing done through Google+ hangouts (I choose Google+ because of the screen sharing capability)

All of this is just my thoughts at the moment, but I still have a few weeks to work out the details. So I'm open to any suggestions.

For anyone else that wants to join the team, contact me at justinhutchens@gmail.com or PM me with your personal email address.

holysheetman

I shot you an email, thanks for putting this together

Chard26

This is an awesome idea,

OSCP is on my list of to do certs, but i dont have the funds at the moment for the 90 day lab

Maybe next time

yoshiiaki

Oh awesome. I might have to jump in on this, I was wanting to start oscp end of feb/early march. But I was wondering, should I consider getting my associate isc2 first because of the credits I get? or is the amount given not that significant of an amount? Although forwarn if I do join, I don't have much to contribute because this will be a 100% learning experience for me.

the_Grinch

I'm in...my life hasn't sucked enough lately so figure I might as well throw this on top of the fire!

the_hutch

yoshiiaki wrote: »

Oh awesome. I might have to jump in on this, I was wanting to start oscp end of feb/early march. But I was wondering, should I consider getting my associate isc2 first because of the credits I get? or is the amount given not that significant of an amount? Although forwarn if I do join, I don't have much to contribute because this will be a 100% learning experience for me.

The comment that you have nothing to contribute concerns me. What kind of background do you have (academic and professional)? I don't expect everyone to have a PenTesting background. But you should have a decently established IT background. Despite what it is advertised as, this is not an entry level cert. I want everyone in the group to have some kind of specialized skillset to offer in the IT world. So that we can reference a diverse set of backgrounds. No offense, but I'm not making this group so that some people in the group can carry the weight of the others.

yoshiiaki

the_hutch wrote: »

The comment that you have nothing to contribute concerns me. What kind of background do you have (academic and professional)? I don't expect everyone to have a PenTesting background. But you should have a decently established IT background. Despite what it is advertised as, this is not an entry level cert. I want everyone in the group to have some kind of specialized skillset to offer in the IT world. So that we can reference a diverse set of backgrounds. No offense, but I'm not making this group so that some people in the group can carry the weight of the others.

First I didn't say "nothing." Second, I completely understand about the group, which is why I made the comment in the first place so no hard feelings. I'm young and new at the IT game. I have CCNA, sec+ and a few other random guys from WGU, and am finishing my first year as a Sys Admin. I know i'm not flushed out as well as others here which is why I made the comment. I didn't want to pretend to be good and then have you guys see me as "that guy", you know the one that free loads. I thought I'd see how the group was aimed to be, I know you are very knowledgeable from seeing your posts around the forum, and if this is really meant to be a high velocity group I don't want to be the guy dragging everyone behind. I'm going to do it regardless if I join the group or not, just thought I'd get to know some people while I'm doing it all. But in reality I think it's best i do this solo anyways, I thought about it overnight.

But I'm excited for it, I've read many reviews about people's struggles and have still decided to do it. If you guys post a thread about your journeys, you can bet I'll be there reading them, at the least to see how my pace compares. So I'll see you guys in the IRC channel for those that pass. Goodluck to all of you.

the_hutch

Sorry, I overlooked your signature block and jumped to conclusion too quick. Assuming you know basic linux usage, I'd say CCNA and Sec+ is a sufficient background for giving this course a whirl. So yeah, if you want on board, let me know. Once again, I meant no offense, just misinterpreted your comment. Send me a PM with your personal email if you decide to go for it.

Hypntick

Really wish I could join up, WGU and other concerns will prevent that unfortunately. Would love to see a blog or thread dedicated to this, as I have every intention of heading in that direction. Good luck to everyone doing this, should be a great experience.

the_Grinch

I'll keep an outline of the torture on my blog, don't worry

the_hutch

*** UPDATE ***

The collaboration website is set up now, and currently has 5 active members (Myself, The_Grinch, YuckTheFankees, TechnoSecurity, and HolySheetMan). I'm hoping everybody is able to follow through and enroll in the course. Assuming everybody does, I think it is going to be a great group, and hopefully (if nothing more), a very good outlet for conversation during the course (and something a little more personal than the IRC channel). Very engaged and reasonably diverse group...so looking forward to working with all of you guys.

I'm still waiting on replies back from Yoshiiaki and Ramrunner800 to see if either are interested in joining.

Otherwise, if anyone else is interested, send me a PM with your personal email and we'll get you spun up.

dt3k

I'm a maybe, I'll let you know. Tabzon is a pretty cool check in/out site.

the_hutch

Thanks for the suggestion. Looks pretty cool. I might use that. If you decide you are going to take it, send me a message with your personal email so I can add you to the group.

XakEp

I'm starting this class the 23rd - happy to collaborate!

ramrunner800

I tried to send a PM, but I guess I'm too new to be able to, so I dropped you an e-mail.

Work is being slow at getting back to me about C|EH, so I think I'm gonna dive in the deep end with OSCP. What kind of time frame are you guys working on? I had been planning on finishing ICND-2 in the next 2-3 weeks. If possible I'd like to do that before committing myself completely to OSCP. That said, I have far more interest in OSCP, and if necessary I can put off ICND-2.

Also, I want to make sure I can keep up with the group. I have A+, Sec+, and CCENT. I also have some experience with Python (Udacity and Coursera's courses), and with Linux. I have a job that affords me alot of time to study, and I'm very enthusiastic about this.

I hope this will all work out; I'm super psyched to get going on this.

t17hha

This is a brilliant idea guys, I initially started the OSCP almost a couple years ago now and purchased 60 days worth of labs but things in my personal life caused me not to commit the amount of time that I needed and I guess as it wasn't as mainstream it was difficult to get as many pointers. I am considering starting up the course again and looking to probably purchase the labs again along with a pentester sometime over the next couple of months. So hopefully I can help contribute, nice one the_hutch!

the_hutch

Thanks. Let me know at any time if you want to join the project.

impelse

Probably I will join to you guys, I am still trying to recertify CCNA, at the same time I am taking hackingdojo.com. I will probably join to you in April

cym

Hi guys, I am currently now taking the OSCP course and have left with around 4 days of lab time. I dont mind extending the lab time if the collaboration group is still ongoing. My nic at #offsec is eipebpesp.

010101

I'm going to start the OSCP in September.
I took the V1 OSCP class years ago, but didn't bother with the exam.
I'm going to start from scratch with the V3 class and conquer the exam hopefully by Jan1.
@the_hutch, just sent you an email to join the collaboration.

Few more glances at the outside then going down into the lab.

Master Of Puppets

010101 wrote: »

I'm going to start the OSCP in September.
I took the V1 OSCP class years ago, but didn't bother with the exam.
I'm going to start from scratch with the V3 class and conquer the exam hopefully by Jan1.
@the_hutch, just sent you an email to join the collaboration.

Few more glances at the outside then going down into the lab.

He already got his OSCP and is done with the course. However, I'm sure he will give you some good advice in case you need it. Also, it would be cool if you keep us posted on your progress throughout the course.