Where to start?

[SoggyBottom]

I was lucky enough to be employed in the security field straight out of university, and didnt realise how un-prepared I was, and what little knowledge my degree provided me.

After realizing how much I had to learn, I would listen in meetings and include myself in work related problems and take extensive notes, then referred to pages such as:

www.whatis.com
www.acronymfinder.com

to get a better understanding.

I then brushed up on my TCP/IP and networking knowledge, then got into the knitty gritty of things like encryption, VPNs, Firewalls....

I am now trying to improve my skills in the fields such as Solaris/Unix/Linux.

My advise to anyone wanting to learn more about security, is to get a thorough understanding of the basics, doing this will provide you with a firm foundation to build further knowledge on.

Security is a fantastic field do be working in at the moment, and I feel very fortunate to have basically fallen into the field. I would urge anyone looking for work in the IT area to seriously consider being in the security field, whether you are a programmer, networker, or interested in Operating Systems.

[Anonymous_User]

BTW, what books would any of you recommend reading, from beginner to advanced?
I checked around on that happyhacker.org site and have read a little bit on the books and they seem to be too brief...it says what to do but it does not say why those methods are being executed, etc.

-thanks in advance