How To Be A Master Security Expert

pls dont take this very seriously...

1. Learn TCP/IP, Basic Information gathering, Proxies, Socks, SSL, VPN, VPS, RDP, FTP, POP3, SMTP, Telnet, SSH.
2. Learn Linux, Unix, Windows - You can do this using vmware or any virtual desktop utility.

3. Learn a programming language that's compatible with all OS - Perl, Python, C .

4. Learn HTML, PHP, Javascript, ASP, XML, SQL, XSS, SQLI, RFI, LFI

5. Learn Reverse engineering and crack some programs for serials easy ones like mirc, winzip, winrar or old games.

6. Code a fuzzer for common protocols - ftp, pop3, 80, 8080 - Pick some free software like ftp server, mail server, apache or iis webserver or a webserver all-in-one pack, or teamspeak, ventrilo, mumble.

7. Code a tool that uses grep to sort out unique code in source codes.

8. Make a custom IPtable, IPsec firewall that blocks all incoming traffic and out going traffic and add filters to accept certain ports that your software or scripts use.

9. Pick a kernel in linux or unix, also pick a Microsoft OS version lets say Winxp pro sp2 put them on the virtual desktops (vmware) and find and code a new local exploit in those versions, then install a Apache webserver on the Linux/Unix and a IIS webserver on the winxp pro and attempt to find and code a new local reverse_tcp_shell exploit.

10. Learn Cisco Router and Switch configuration and setup.

11. Learn Checkpoint Setup and Config

12. Learn Wifi scanning, cracking, sniffing.

16. Once got access upload a shell and attempt to exploit the server to gain root using a exploit you coded not someone else s exploit.

17. Make your own Linux Distro

18. Use your own Linux Distro or use a vanilla Linux gnome (not kde) keep it with not much graphics so you can learn how to depend on the terminal and start from scratch install applications that you will only need for a blackbox (Security test box), make folders for fuzzers, exploits, scanners..etc Then load them up with your own scripts and other tools ( By this stage you shouldn't need to depend on other peoples scripts).

20. Now Finally.. Create your Own secure network and secure your own systems with your own Security policies and firewall settings.

There are some things that it does right and some things that it does. Learning TCP/IP does help to quite some extent and knowing how to use SSL certificates and how other protocols work would give one the foundational skills to setup and configure a firewall. Learning Linux, Unix, and Windows is so that one becomes aware of the various tools that are available with the operating system. A network administrator would be able to determine the IP address of a system and to figure out if DNS is working correctly. There are several cases of DNS poisoning that cause a user to go to a different website than intended. I don't really understand why they expect a programming language that is compatible with all operating systems - you can use just about any programming language and can expect some kind of a bridge or a port that will enable it to work on other operating systems. Also, you often find programming languages that work across multiple operating systems but are limited by the availability of libraries. Consider the C programming language as an example. You would typically find the ncurses library on a Linux or Unix setup, but Windows is not likely to have an up-to-date ncurses implementation so you would have to alter your implementation. Also, you would perhaps use ANSI emulation in Windows but can't expect it to work on Linux or Unix unless you do actually know of an ANSI emulator that is being maintained to work with the current version of the libraries available on the operating system. HTML and a server side scripting language is what you would use if you want to implement phishing attacks. Then again, you would also need to know CSS, Javascript, and Photoshop to make all the pieces fit together. Reverse engineering targets a different kind of security and is typically associated with the serial key generation and acceptance in shareware programs to make them function as fully registered software. Reverse engineering is also used to determine the kind of malware affecting a system. A virus can be examined to determine what exactly it does to the system. If this is not the kind of work that you would be doing as a security expert, you might as well skip this step. I'm barely mid-way down the list, but I've got aching wrists already so I'll just state that although the list is relevant to practitioners of system security, you have to consider the context within which you expect to work to figure out what works best for you.

The number one security flaw of any system is the users in the my opinion. I have a physician that spells out his password as he types it, which is a HIPAA nightmare.