On Fri, 4 Jan 2002 10:29:07 -0500 Douglas Pichardo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
> Revered security professionals:
> Hi, my name is Douglas Pichardo and I am 16 years old. I live
> in Virginia Beach, Virginia (USA), and I am in the 10th grade. I have been a
> member of this discussion list for several months, trying to learn all I can
> about the world of security, which I have a strong interest in. This last
> summer, when my interest popped up, I spent several hours almost every day
> reading webpages about every security topic that I could read about and
> understand, but at that time I was using Windows 98 and was unable to really
> get into and play around with any of the information I learned, and decided to
> get an OS that would allow me to - either Linux or Windows 2000, and Windows
> 2000 is too expensive. For Christmas, I got SuSE Linux 7.3 Professional,
> <u>Hacking Linux Exposed</u>, and <u>Linux System Administration</u>, as these
> all had good reviews in various places and I did not like Mandrake 8.1 which
> I had burned on CD and previously installed.
> Well, to the point: I would like to try out security things
> like firewalls and such and be exposed to the internet (I'm behind a Linksys
> Cable/DSL router with NAT), but I don't feel anywhere near knowledgeable
> enough. What I'm looking for is a internship of sorts, and I was wondering if
> either:
> (a) by some chance some of you know companies in Virginia Beach, VA,
> that would take me "under their wing", or (b) any of you know of any websites
> or companies that might have information about local internship
> programs in the security/administration field. I am looking for a learning
> opportunity - a free one - where I could gain experience (the SANS and other
> conferences are too much money and travel for me at age 16). I would greatly
> appreciate any help that you would give me as an aspiring security
> professional.
> Thank you in advance, and also thank you for reading all of this - I can get
> wordy :-) .
>
> Sincerely,
> Douglas Pichardo
>
> P.S. I'm not some teenage wanna-be hacker; I truly only want to get
> into the security field, not the "counter"-security field. And just in case
> the fact that I'm writing this at 10:30 AM might contribute to the
> stereotype, I have no school today; we have about 3 inches of snow and the
> whole area has shut down as if it were 3 feet.
>
> P.P.S. Are there any other books on Linux administration or
> local/network security that you recommend?
>
As some of readers here have stated, it is quite difficult
to enter the security field as young as you are. I can attest too
that it is indeed possible, cause I'm 22 and work as a security
engineer. Recently, my company paid my session to BlackHat at
Amsterdam, thus proving that you can become a respected person
when you have showed that maybe you are young, but you can have deep
knowledge too.
I first came to Linux world, learning how to configure and
administer a Linux box. I was 15, and not involved in security at
that time. But, the more I was administering (for my own pleasure),
the more I was involved in networking aspects of Unixes. And,
fataly, falled into security field.
I was 18, and get my first home Internet connection. I began
to read all I can in security, especially papers, and mailling lists,
like this one, and all others from security focus. I woked up at 6am
every morning, to read by daily 300 eMails, before going to
university. I think that 50 percent of my actual knowloeged comes
from MLs. The rest is part of training.
As to say that school or Certs. can give you more than
personal experience (practice) and ML reading, I think not (but I have
no certification, so ...). The only thing I've learn at school was C
language. You can better learn it by reading source code. C is very
usefull in the process of becoming a security expert, in the sens
that you will be able to implement protocols, and I think this is the
better way to learn deeply how networks work, and where security is
involved.
That was just my contribution to the story of 'howto become
a security professional when I am yound', and I hope that helps.
I can just add: good luck to you.
______________________________________________________________________
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| __ |___/ Security Engineer Junior
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