Cybersecurity Roadmap: Part 1 – A Step-by-Step Guide
- Lency Korien
- Mar 6
- 2 min read
1. Foundation Building For Security
Cryptography and PKI
Books:
“Applied Cryptography” by Bruce Schneier.
“Cryptography and Network Security” by William Stallings.
Key Topics:
Symmetric vs. Asymmetric Cryptography (AES, RSA, ECC).
Key Management and Distribution (HSMs, key rotation policies).
Certificates, PKI, and X.509 Standard.
Tools:
OpenSSL: Practice generating keys, and signing certificates.
This is the bash code:-
openssl genrsa -out private.key 2048
openssl req -new -x509 -key private.key-out cert.pem -days 365Explore AWS Key Management Service (KMS) or Google Cloud KMS.
2. System and Network Security
Linux Security
Topics:
User and Permissions Management (e.g., SELinux, AppArmor).
Auditing Tools: Auditd, Linux Security Modules (LSM).
Secure File Systems: eCryptfs, EncFS.
Practice:
Implement CIS Benchmarks on Ubuntu/CentOS.
Use audit Ctl to set up and monitor security rules.
Network Security
Key Concepts:
Firewalls (iptables, nftables).
VPNs (WireGuard, OpenVPN).
Network Monitoring: Wireshark, tcpdump, Zeek (formerly Bro).
3. Cloud and Container Security
Cloud Security
Focus Areas:
Identity and Access Management (IAM).
Key Management (AWS KMS, GCP KMS).
Secure Virtual Networking (VPC, Firewall Rules).
Hands-On:
Set up secure workloads in AWS/GCP.
Enable and monitor services like AWS GuardDuty or GCP Security Command Center.
Container Security
Focus Areas:
Image Scanning (Trivy, Clair).
Runtime Security (Falco, Sysdig).
Kubernetes Security (RBAC, Pod Security Policies).
Practice:
Harden Docker images and Kubernetes clusters using CIS Benchmarks.
Deploy and test security tools in a Kubernetes lab.
4. Threat Modeling and Penetration Testing For Security
Threat Modeling
Books:
“Threat Modeling: Designing for Security” by Adam Shostack.
Practice:
Model threats for a real-world system using STRIDE or PASTA frameworks.
Use tools like Microsoft Threat Modeling Tool or OWASP Threat Dragon.
Penetration Testing
Learning Resources:
“The Web Application Hacker’s Handbook” by Dafydd Stuttard.
TryHackMe, Hack The Box, or PentesterLab for guided labs.
Tools:
Metasploit, Burp Suite, Nmap, and Nessus.
Practice:
Simulate attacks on a vulnerable VM (e.g., OWASP Juice Shop, DVWA).
5. Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC)
Frameworks and Standards
Learn about:
NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF).
ISO 27001 Information Security Management.
CIS Controls.
Study compliance requirements:
PCI DSS, GDPR, HIPAA (based on industry focus).
You can check more info about: Cybersecurity Roadmap.
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