Hack Your Way Through Uni A Compilation of Resources to get you started. You may have been directed to this link from attending my presentation or through someone. So during my bachelors of computing, I had done two internships, worked as a systems analyst, volunteered teaching tech to children and worked as a cybersecurity consultant.

I also did a lot of study outside of the classroom and did additional courses to learn about different areas in cybersecurity. Cybersecurity or InfoSec has different roles and can be overwhelmning to know which area to go into. I wanted to go into Red Team at first but now I am in a Blue Team role.

You have chosen an awesome area to get into, it maybe challenging at first and hard to break into. However, some of these tips which I am sharing will guide you. At the end of the day, you will need to work hard not just in Uni but outside of Uni.

Build Your Knowledge Base

When I mean build your knowledge base, I mean research different roles in cybersecurity. As when you are in uni, you are taught the fundamental concepts of cybersecurity and you learn fundamental concepts in cybersecurity. This gives you a baseline in your career. The rest is up to you to utilise those skills and apply them to the real world.

Cybersecurity Domain Map

Henry Jiang who is a CISO at Dilligent Corporation mapped out various domains of the cybersecurity landscape. The world of cybersecurity can range from GRC (General Risk and Compliance), Blue Team (Security Operations, Monitoring, Incident and Response), Read Team (Penetration Testing with a combination of Risk Assessment and Red Teaming exercises), Purple Team which sits in between, DevSecops the list never ends. I suggest reading the below article from Henry Jiang as this helped me map out my career.

Hackathons

Sometimes it can be scary going to a meetup and everyone is dressed in a suit and you feel out of place. Hackathons is a great place to meet new people and learn about different areas in tech. The hackathons are normally supported by tech companies like Datacom, Microsoft, Amazon, Google as well as other government sectors. The best thing to do is join the Hackathons NZ facebook page wher the group will post up coming hackathons. https://www.facebook.com/HackathonsNZ/

Meetups

You will need to invest in learning more than what is taught in the classroom. The best thing to do is go to meetups and learn from professionals working in the industry.

Unitec ISACA Student Group https://isacaunitec.wordpress.com/

ISIG https://isig.org.nz/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discussion

NZNWS - Women of Security NZ https://www.meetup.com/WoSecNZ/

HAL- Hack and Learn http://www.hal.org.nz/

(ISC)2 https://www.isc2chapter-auckland.org.nz/events/