How to get cybersecurity experience for FREE 👩🏻‍💻

This is how to get cybersecurity experience for FREE 👩🏻‍💻

There’s a lot of content out there to get hands-on cybersecurity training, but lots of basics can be learned for free and can be a great addition to your resume. 

🐞 Participate in CTFs 

Capture The Flag (CTF) competitions provide hands-on challenges that mimic real-world cybersecurity scenarios, allowing you to practice your skills in a practical, engaging way. 

They also offer networking opportunities with other CTF participants and gives you a chance to work on a team. Find upcoming CTFs and a team to participate with on CTFTime (for free)!

👾 Build a Home Lab 

A home lab allows for experimentation with different systems, networks, and security tools in a controlled environment, and can oftentimes be done using free or open source software and tools. 

It also demonstrates your initiative and a commitment to building technical skills on your resume and in future interviews. 

💻 Work on Technical Open-Source Projects 

Getting experience using open-source tools helps you gain experience with widely-used tooling and understand how they may be used in real-world scenarios. 

These projects can be shared in a technical project portfolio to show your practical skills to a potential employer. A great example of this is building an SIEM with open-source tooling, by SOCFortress.

🔒 Secure your Home Network 

Securing your home network involves configuring firewalls, setting up secure Wi-Fi, and protecting against potential threats or malware, which provides a real-world environment to learn. 

This technical experience can also be transferable to securing larger networks in a professional setting.