Happy New Year! 2022 is going to be the first year I’ve been fully immersed in security and I’m going into the new year with a lot more clarity surrounding what I want to do and achieve over the course of it all. I’m just writing a short blog post (more for me, but also for anyone who wants to follow my journey) to put my goals to the record, and in a way to also hold myself accountable!
🌐 Put more effort into my website
I’ve loved getting the website up and running but compiling lengthy writeups is quite time consuming - I’m going to put every effort into maintaining my website a little more consistently. As of today I’m now paying for Netlify analytics (which at just over £6 a month is a steal, considering they host personal projects at 0 cost), and I aim to expand my content to include shorter blogs and informational posts, as well as the more traditional OSINT and CTF writeups so far.
🎖️ Get CompTia Net+ and Sec+ certified!
I’ve been dwelling on CompTia Network+ for a long time now - I started it earlier in the year, learned most of the content and was getting on for the revision stages and preparing to book the exam, but work and uni completely overwhelmed me. This year I want to get back on track, and complete the certification. When I’m done, I’d also like to try and get Security+ certified by the end of the year too, or at least have made a start on it.
⛔ De-Google
This is something I started in 2021 and something I’ll probably write a post about at some point, but I’m aiming to oust Google from my life even more. So far I’ve changed email providers, de-activated a lot of Google services and opted for Duck-Duck-Go! where possible, but I’m trying to take this even further.
🔒 Be more cyber-secure
It would be unwise to delve too deeply into this, but I’d like to get more on top of my personal security and opsec this year.
📖 Read more books!
I always fancy the look of a lot of books but never get around to reading them - I’ve had Open Source Intelligence Techniques by Michael Bazzell sitting on my shelf for a good chunk of year, and I’ve seen countless more that I’ve barely given a quick glance just because I don’t think I’ll read them. I aim to read a lot more this year (both security and non-security - I’ve got my eyes on a re-read of Lord of the Rings) - and I’ll hopefully compile a bit of a book list at some point, containing what I want to read, and what I have already read.
🦸♂️ Do some good through a TraceLabs search party!
This one is pretty self-explanatory, but if you don’t know, TraceLabs in their own words “are a nonprofit organization whose mission is to accelerate the family reunification of missing persons while training members in the tradecraft of open source intelligence (OSINT)”. It’s a great way to combine my interest in OSINT with doing a bit of good, which can never go amiss.
🎓 Complete second year of studies, and start my ‘placement year’
For the Cyber Security BSc at my university, typically you complete 2 years of study, then go and complete a placement for a year before coming back to complete the 3rd and final year. I’m applying for, and interviewing for, a lot of different roles right now and I can’t wait to get my first proper ‘job’ in security.
With this in mind, I also would like to keep completing my work to the high standard I’ve managed to so far, next term we have modules in penetration testing, Linux security, cryptography and research which are all coursework based, and I’m looking forward to tackling these, especially given my recent efforts with TryHackMe.
Above all, I’m excited to see what I can learn in 2022, not just inside of my university studies but outside too.