First things first.
Since Covid19 has been declared a pandemic, we should do everything we can to help limit the spread of the virus. The CDC has great information on how to do so.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/index.html
And please. Don’t buy up all the toilet paper and face masks!
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With Covid19 spreading in the US, a lot of companies are changing they way they continue business. Cybersecurity businesses are no different. I’m going into my 3rd week of remote work and there are company memos about what is being done to accommodate people and what our state is doing to combat the spread. Since I live near Seattle, you can imagine that daily life has been impacted greatly.
However, it is my belief that if you’re in the cybersecurity industry, you continue to find ways to improve your skills or to take time to mentor others. There are many ways to accomplish this. For me, I like learning about pentesting methodologies to help with my network traffic investigations. To that end, I want to share a new website I recently ran across via Reddit.
The site is called tryhackme.com and I have been addicted. Cutting myself off from the general public most days due to the virus doesn’t help with the addiction either. The easiest way to describe the site is something of a cross between HackThis, Cybrary, and HackTheBox in all the good ways! Since I have started playing on the site, I have improved my nmap and metasploit skills as well as being introduced to new tools and concepts. Even got to do my very first privilege escalation! It is one of those things you always hear about but never quite sure how it is done. And that is what I love about this site!
The main feature of TryHackMe is the different “rooms” you can join to learn. Each room has an overall objective and, like Cybrary, there are steps on how to complete the objective. Each step has some kind of confirmation that you completed it. Sometimes it is as simple as clicking the “completed” button. Other times, you need to submit the correct answer. One thing I like about these steps is that it does not feel like it is holding your hand through every little step. When I used Cybrary’s virtual machines for learning (roughly $100/month), I got annoyed when the steps told me how to logon to a machine with a username and password. This wasn’t through something like SSH or RDP. I was already interacting with the virtual machine and had the username/password on hand. Yet, I often would find tutorials instructing me how to login. Or how to open Windows command line…I digress.
Like HackTheBox, in each room you can deploy a virtual machine and connect to it through an OpenVPN tunnel, but unlike HackTheBox, you are not completely alone when trying to hack into the machine. The steps are usually well written and easy to follow that even a novice, oh say like me, can get that sweet forbidden access to the machine. If you get stuck, there is sometimes a “hint” button to point you in the right direction. Similar to HackThis. Another similarity to is that TryHackMe has something for absolute beginners to more advanced users. Plus, no need to hack the site to get access! (I’m looking at you, HackTheBox.)
Although you can use the site for free, I would recommend the subscription plan if you can. It is about $10 a month and gets you access to all of the content including the “learning paths”. I’m currently on the OSCP path which has got me thinking I should take the exam one day. And some of the subscription rooms have been a real joy to work in!
If you have an interest in pentesting or just want to see hacking concepts in action, I highly recommend giving the site a try!
Now, to go back and finish the Kenobi room!
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