Starting Point??

Im your humble opinion what is the first thing a complete noob should grasp if he wants to get interest in network security (TCP/IP????). Oh and for someone who has programmed in Javascript and PHP (and grasped OOP, I think) what is a better starter, Python or C++.

Thanks for your time.

[Edit]A good place to start would probably be spelling security right, damn[/Edit]

TCPIP would probably be a good starting point, seeing as how its still core of the internet, and has been for 20 years now. I can't say much about python, but c++ is a powerful and easy to learn language. You also might want to get a cheap computer to toss some *nix version on to play around with. Also, you could stop by the tutorials forum, and browse it for a while, read a few pieces and see what areas you already have expeience in and which ones you really need to work on.

i believe the best place to start is by learning the ins and outs of an OS (one of your choice) and then learning your way around a pc in general (hardware) this provides an excellent foundation for which ever path you choose to continue on in later (networking, security etc)
but yeh start with learning an os.

when you come accross errors troubleshoot and fix them it is the best way to learn. play around with things and fiddle constantly :)

I would suggest learning TCP/IP first. You will need to have a good grasp on it to understand things like the architecture of the internet, common network attacks, and communication over the internet and other networks. I found some threads that may help you out:

here

here

and

here.

I hope that helps a bit. I wish you the best in your quest for knowledge.


Cheers,

t2k2