Getting Started!

Not gonna lie, I get asked "How do I get started in security?" (and variations thereof) a lot and I never have a good answer for it. So here's some general tips:

1. Start with what you're interested in. If you heard about an exploit, tool, concept, etc what peaked your interest, dive into that first.

2. Start learning how to keep yourself secure/private online with Security Planner

3. If you are reading a blog post, wiki page, book, paper, etc. and you come across something you've never heard of or don't understand, don't continue reading until you understand that thing. (Obviously, this won't work for everyone because everyone learns differently. One of my first year uni prof's gave me this advice and I've found it to be pretty effective.)

4. Be prepared to not understand pretty much everything and it's totally ok to not understand everything.

5. Have a decent understanding of programming. If you've never done any sort of programming before, check out Code Academy — the Python track is a good place to start.

6. Don't just read about it! Reading about security is all well and good, but coding exploits will solidify your understanding. Check out the CTFs section to get started.

7. Get yourself a bookmarking tool such as Pocket. There will be lots of things you'll want to save for later and you'll need a way to organize them. (Don't be like me and use Twitter likes as your bookmarking tool)