SEC530: Defensible Security Architecture and Engineering – Zero Trust

Why take this course?

One of the major reasons on why I chose to take SEC530 is due to the class syllabus. A big item that stood out to me was learning more about implementing Zero Trust and an Insider Threat program. The course has a whole day dedicated to just those topics alone. Being in a Security Engineering role, this course is a great way to understand how to assess your current defenses within your organization. But, also allows you to plan ahead for future controls that may need to be built out over time.

If you’ve got an extensive amount of experience already working within the cyber security world. Then, some of the defenses may be items that you have already worked on or have some exposure on. For me personally, a lot of the materials from Day 1-3 were concepts and practical work that I have already experienced. However, Day 4-5 were excellent in learning new topics/ideas that will at least for me lead to fun future projects.

I took the vLive course option, which in my case was also taking place in person. So, it was a hybrid class with students in person, as well as students (such as me) taking it remotely for the week.

Day 1

The start to the course will go over many basic concepts related to best practices for physical and network security. You’ll get to play with the MITRE Framework, and understand the cyber kill chain. There is a good chunk of time dedicated to learning about various types of NetFlow data (on prem networking devices, cloud, endpoint). It’s a great start to the course to warm you up to the good stuff!

Day 2

Passing The Microsoft AZ-900 Exam

Getting Microsoft Certified for Azure Fundamentals

I decided to challenge the AZ-900 Exam, as I got a Microsoft voucher for a free exam attempt. So, I decided to give the exam a crack. Basing it off other peer’s experience, who had already taken this exam. The consensus I had heard is that it should be a simple exam if you have used Azure before and worked on different services (e.g., IaaS, PaaS, SaaS.) I probably spent about less than 8 hours prepping, as I felt the topics seemed general and things I have already been exposed too.

Prepping to take the exam

My personal experience with Azure is that I have worked with it for 3+ years. If you have spent a lot of time in the Azure environment building things, configuring things and managing different items. You will have no problem challenging this exam. Most of the concepts are related to everyday tasks that you would be working on. Or tasks you would have been exposed to at some point while engineering designs in Azure.

Here is a score list of what you need to know –> https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/exams/az-900

• Cloud concepts (20-25%)
• Core Azure services (15-20%)
• Core solutions and management tools on Azure (10-15%)
• General security and network security features (10-15%)
• Identity, governance, privacy, and compliance features (20-25%)
• Azure cost management and Service Level Agreements (10-15%)
  

Public Wi-Fi Security

Public Wi-Fi Security

Today in our current world we have access to free public wifi practically around ever corner street. Most cafes and restaurants offer free public WiFi to just about anyone. What people fail to realize is that technology is no different in the public compared to people being in public.

Let’s create a real life use case. You could be taking a nice stroll down at your local park. When someone comes by and starts taking photo’s of you and others at the park. They know have “access” to an image of you without your knowledge. But, (more…)