Where should I begin?

[Shinobi009]

I am wondering where I should begin to learn about security. What things do I need to know and where to get this knowledge from.

[AngelicKnight]

Actually, I'm getting ready to write a tutorial on this, so stay tuned.

In the meantime -- this is a great place to start. Read, read, and read. Check out AO's links. Subscribe to security-related newsletters. Get acquainted with those who are knowledgeable. Check out government sources on computer security.

Bury yourself in the AO tutorials section. I have a thick stack of tutorials I printed off from this website, and it's made for good reading. You can literally spend hours in the tutorials alone.

A question though -- do you want to learn security so you can protect your home computer better, or are you looking into actually going into the field?

/edit -- had forgotten to mention tutorials, the most important part!

[Nokia]

Hi, welcome to AO.

You could begin by reading a few tutorials on this site?

It may help if you make a decision on exactly what aspect of security you would like to learn about then read everything you can about it!

See what tutorials grab your fancy then maybe search the net via google for more info on it!?!

[NemorY]

You can also start in the tips and trick forum, when you learn tips and trick about an OS (or better said, secrets about an OS) you get more curious, and that drives you to continue to look further for information !

Also start learning with a friend, thats always more fun then just reading, also if you can get your hands on a free, older box, get one, and test stuff on it, how this and that works, try to break in it, read abou different MS or Unix exploits then test them, etc....if you wanna learn how to secure it, you gotta learn how they break in it first

[jr05linux]

Hi,
welcome to AO...

Well to start learning from what AP teaches i would personally read the FAQs, Tipps &Tricks.
And also read as many secureity TUTORIALS as you can.
And read a lot of posts. That wold spark your interests.

[hellforgedangel]

I find the best way to start learning such a vast subjact is to read a forum or website like AO, Read anything and everything...that way you will probably start to notice some things intrest you more than others so google for these things and when you hvae learnt all you can about something go back to the website and find something else to research.

[Shinobi009]

Thanks to all of you for your help, I will begin working on that right now.

[Spyrus]

What I would recommend is that you start by learning the basics to TCP/IP and the protocols that are in place with basic networking. I would recommend you look at a book like hack attacks exposed and hack attacks denied. I think the best way to start to learn is to learn the vulnerabilities and then learn how to fix them after you have broken them.

Experimentation is a great place to start. Setup a small network while you read that book and try some of the things it recommends. This was a great place to start for me. Also take a look at the OSI model and read some RFC's. All of this will go hand in hand on learning but only one aspect of security.

[Enkrypt This]

http://www.security-forums.com/forum/

..is also a nice place to start learning about Security, they have very smart members, and a load of tutorials on their website !

[Enkrypt This]

Im sorry but: I got this comment in my AP center from a member.

Spam is not approved of.

First off, how is this spam ? If you meant "Advertising a site is not approved of" Im not advertising, since it's not my site. Why would this be advertising, so that means nobody can every post a link to a good site, it would be considered spam or advertising . !

You know who you are, i don't wanna give out any usernames !