Computer forensics career

Iceman29

Hi All,

I'm looking for some advice. Im looking at a possible career change and looking at the possibility of computer forensics.
im 29 and have no real IT qualifications yet. I had been working in a different industry since doing my a degree (not in IT).

I am looking for advice on where to start off and good courses to do?
What would be the best way to approach it ie. doing a course and starting work and hoping that they train you and send you on courses or what would you recommend ?

all help would be greatly appreciated

Regards

traco

There was a radio intervew done by Dave Fanning, its a fair few weeks back but the lady involved is in the RCSI I think and she seems to be the guru worldwide. Works with Interpol, and LA agancy and who knows what else. Be worth seeing if you could locate that as a podcast and see where that takes you.

Iceman29

Thanks Traco, I'll have a look for that. I know there is a very good masters in UCD but as i said i have no experience or qualifications. I would need to start at the bottom and work my way up to it i think. Any suggestions?

Dermot Illogical

Your best bet, to do it right, would be to go for a primary degree in an IT related field, followed by postgraduate studies in digital forensics.
You need to have a solid IT background to do well.
You might get really lucky and get into a job which will train you up, but it's unlikely in forensics as one mistake can trash a case.
There are some certificates which might help get a foot in the door (Look up IACIS, SANS, ISFCE to see what they offer)

The lady mentioned by traco is Mary Aiken. She's a cyberpsychologist, so not quite in the same field.

Iceman29

Thanks Dermot, great help.
I spoke to UCD earlier and they said i would really need to have a good knowledge of programming etc and with my experience at the moment they would advise against it.I was thinking of going down the networking route and get some courses under my belt, get a job, get more courses and then do the masters at night.
Kinda progress my career as i go on but dont have a clue where to start?

Dermot Illogical

To get into the UCD Masters, you need a primary IT degree or equivalent experience.
I would imagine the same applies in DCU and IT Blanchardstown.

If you really want to end up in forensics, you'll need to get a solid base. The accepted level is IT degree, which will cover theory,hardware, networks, programming and all the other bits you need to know.
Working in any IT environment while studying at night would go a long way toward your goal. If you can get work in a company which encourages or funds external learning, even better.
Start in IT is my advice, specialise later.

syklops

Iceman29 wrote: »

Thanks Dermot, great help.
I spoke to UCD earlier and they said i would really need to have a good knowledge of programming etc and with my experience at the moment they would advise against it.I was thinking of going down the networking route and get some courses under my belt, get a job, get more courses and then do the masters at night.
Kinda progress my career as i go on but dont have a clue where to start?

This is what you need

Dermot Illogical

syklops wrote: »

This is what you need

But first:
Minimum Entry Requirements
The minimum entry requirement for standard entrants is a level 6 award in Computing.

syklops

Ok, this is what you need:

Dermot Illogical wrote: »

But first:
Minimum Entry Requirements
The minimum entry requirement for standard entrants is a level 6 award in Computing.

traco

Dermot Illogical wrote: »

The lady mentioned by traco is Mary Aiken. She's a cyberpsychologist, so not quite in the same field.

Cheers for that - I must look her up as it was very very interesting to hear her speak on tracking activities of not such a savoury nature. Fascinating stuff and fair play to her.

syklops

The lady mentioned by traco is Mary Aiken. She's a cyberpsychologist, so not quite in the same field.

Jesus.

Dermot Illogical

syklops wrote: »

Jesus.

Apparently it's a thing.
http://www.rcsileadership.org/CyberPsychology_Introduction

zweton

may help you out.

http://www.cybrary.it/

syklops

God I hate the term cyber.

BoB_BoT

syklops wrote: »

God I hate the term cyber.

Then you'll love the term "Cyber Physical Attack" :P

Iceman29

thanks so much, this has been a big help.
Would anybody know what the FAS Computer Network Installation & Maintenance course is like and would it be a good starting block to get in somewhere and build on it leading to a career in computer maintenance ?

Iceman29

thanks so much, this has been a big help.
Would anybody know what the FAS Computer Network Installation & Maintenance course is like and would it be a good starting block to get in somewhere and build on it leading to a career in computer maintenance ?

Modules:
CAREER PLANNING AND JOB SEEKING SKILLS
COMPTIA A+ - 220 801
COMPTIA A+ - 220-802
COMPTIA NETWORK + 2012
IN-COMPANY
INDUCTION
MTA - WINDOWS SERVER ADMINISTRATION FUNDAMENTALS - ONLINE

syklops

Iceman29 wrote: »

thanks so much, this has been a big help.
Would anybody know what the FAS Computer Network Installation & Maintenance course is like and would it be a good starting block to get in somewhere and build on it leading to a career in computer maintenance ?

Modules:
CAREER PLANNING AND JOB SEEKING SKILLS
COMPTIA A+ - 220 801
COMPTIA A+ - 220-802
COMPTIA NETWORK + 2012
IN-COMPANY
INDUCTION
MTA - WINDOWS SERVER ADMINISTRATION FUNDAMENTALS - ONLINE

The A+ is good as is the N+. I've no experience with the others.

Will that get you a Fetac compliant qualification?

Keyzer

Funny how things like this pop up after you've been reading something very interesting and related.

Check this out from the CISO of San Diego City in regards how he managed his security career after leaving the Navy 20 odd years ago:

Part one: http://www.securitycurrent.com/en/ciso_journal/ac_ciso_journal/path-to-a-career-in-cyber

Part two: http://www.securitycurrent.com/en/ciso_journal/ac_ciso_journal/path-to-a-career-in-cyber-and-then-some

You should read these articles, I found them quite inspiring in a way and have started to think what I could be doing more of to further my own knowledge and career even after working in the industry for 15+ years.

pah

Hi OP - Have a look at some of these courses on UDEMY

Lots of them are free and give excellent well structured information - you can get it on the go through their app also. While they do give you "certification" for finishing courses it really isn't worth anything to you professionally but as an easy starting point I would recommend it. You can search the different areas for free courses, try and get a grounding in linux too.

Get an old computer or laptop - take it apart and put it back together again, reinstall windows, install linux, setup a virtual lab with vm's so you can practice networking etc.

That's where you can start right now today IMO while you try and map out your career. That's a fantastic article that Keyzer posted.

JonDoe

Iceman29 wrote: »

thanks so much, this has been a big help.
Would anybody know what the FAS Computer Network Installation & Maintenance course is like and would it be a good starting block to get in somewhere and build on it leading to a career in computer maintenance ?

Modules:
CAREER PLANNING AND JOB SEEKING SKILLS
COMPTIA A+ - 220 801
COMPTIA A+ - 220-802
COMPTIA NETWORK + 2012
IN-COMPANY
INDUCTION
MTA - WINDOWS SERVER ADMINISTRATION FUNDAMENTALS - ONLINE

Certifications and Support, hardware, networks will bring you the quickest career progression, don't do courses, just learn the answers and sit the exams, it'll teach you the possibilities of each product and enable you to learn on the job if you've any wits ( I got sacked from my first full time job after 3 months, too ambitious and was a contractor from then on). One of the Comptia's, get some MCP's or MCSE if it still exists. Then you'll need to get specific, each product will have it's own auditing so learn as much about this area in as many major products as possible. Lastly and most important, don't change addresses too often and if possible get work with either military or police, this will aid a ton with getting security clearance. Have a look at salaries in the UK, they're double if you've got clearance, so get/ have yourself a clean verifiable history.

syklops

I'd also consider picking up some programming language. I'd highly recommend Python. Theres a free course on codeacademy: www.codecademy.com/

uck51js9zml2yt

pah wrote: »

Hi OP - Have a look at some of these courses on UDEMY

Lots of them are free and give excellent well structured information - you can get it on the go through their app also. While they do give you "certification" for finishing courses it really isn't worth anything to you professionally but as an easy starting point I would recommend it. You can search the different areas for free courses, try and get a grounding in linux too.

Get an old computer or laptop - take it apart and put it back together again, reinstall windows, install linux, setup a virtual lab with vm's so you can practice networking etc.

That's where you can start right now today IMO while you try and map out your career. That's a fantastic article that Keyzer posted.

Nice set of udemy courses.


I did the level 8 of the cyber forensics course in ITB. It was a good course but rushed.
They've cut the number of modules and increased class time after we did it. It was the first year so was a learning curve.
Would have loved to break into security but all the junior jobs wanted 3 years experience plus a library of languages and I was either under experienced or over qualified with an additional post grad.

Iceman29

Thanks a million for all your great help, i noticed a course on DBS which seems pretty good.
its Advanced Networking and cloud Technology.

Programme Content

Business Information Systems
Application of Cloud Technologies
Cloud networking & Security
MTA Networking Fundamentals

Does anyone have any experience of this course or would you recommend the FAS Computer Network Installation & Maintenance course instead.

Im kind of stuck between these two at present.

Thanks again

Kur4mA

Kaiser Stocky AcrossL wrote: »

Nice set of udemy courses.


I did the level 8 of the cyber forensics course in ITB. It was a good course but rushed.
They've cut the number of modules and increased class time after we did it. It was the first year so was a learning curve.
Would have loved to break into security but all the junior jobs wanted 3 years experience plus a library of languages and I was either under experienced or over qualified with an additional post grad.

I'm currently doing the level 7 Digital Forensics & Cyber Security course in ITB. I would recommend it for the opportunities it has given me to find my niche. It's really good in terms of what you learn regarding how broad the Security spectrum actually is, what areas of that spectrum interest you and what areas don't interest you.

For example, for my 3rd year project I am running distributed servers across NA, EU, LATAM and APAC regions with several honeypots on each, analysing the types of attack vector per region and where those attacks are coming from. The data I'm getting has been really interesting and I've already started building relationships with some people in the industry and getting advice/expanding my knowledge and getting an understanding on what I NEED to do next. The ITB course has pretty much helped me to figure out that I want to get into Threat Intelligence and hopefully Malware Analysis in the future. I want to be good at doing everything possible to either foil the bad guys or make their task as difficult as possible.

I'll be finishing up in May and the plan is to take a year out doing Python and more Threat Intel stuff, then go back to get my Honours.

Iceman29

Hi

Could you tell me from your experience which course would be better suited?
1)Programme Content

Business Information Systems
Application of Cloud Technologies
Cloud networking & Security
MTA Networking Fundamentals

2)
Modules:
CAREER PLANNING AND JOB SEEKING SKILLS
COMPTIA A+ - 220 801
COMPTIA A+ - 220-802
COMPTIA NETWORK + 2012
IN-COMPANY
INDUCTION
MTA - WINDOWS SERVER ADMINISTRATION FUNDAMENTALS - ONLINE

One is a 6 month course and the other is a 8 month course.
need to apply by today?