🔏 Simplifying Cybersecurity Issue #5

Welcome to the latest issue of Simplifying Cybersecurity!

This newsletter is packed with info to help you up your cybersecurity game. Whether you're just getting started or a seasoned cybersecurity professional, I've got you covered with tips, tools, and resources to help you keep growing and keep your career moving forward.

In this issue:

• Cybersecurity news stories you should read

• Professionals you should follow or connect with

• Tips to stand out in your next interview

• Training resources to improve your skills

• Career opportunities you can apply for today

• Recommended reading from The Bookstore

📰 Cybersecurity in the News

Everyone’s talking about the global IT outage caused by CrowdStrike, but are we have the right conversations? Look past the hype (i.e., articles from competitors seeking to capitalize on CrowdStrike’s failure), and read these articles so you can better understand what happened and what we should to avoid an incident like this in the future.

Widespread IT Outage Due to CrowdStrike Update. This alert from CISA (Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency) is a straightforward, hype-free explanation of what happened. It includes external sources that provide additional context about the incident. Definitely worth bookmarking.

CrowdStrike file update bricks Windows machines around the world. And here's an article with a bit more flair. While it calls out the core issue, a buggy sensor update that caused the dreaded Blue Screen of Death on Windows machines all over the world, words like brick and deathloop elicit unpleasant emotions in IT professionals.

Global Microsoft Meltdown Tied to Bad CrowdStrike Update. The reason I’m recommending this Krebs article is that the name Microsoft comes before the name CrowdStrike in the headline. End users don’t know who CrowdStrike is, but Microsoft and Windows have become household names. Microsoft has taken a bit of a brand hit as a result of this incident.

The CrowdStrike Failure Was a Warning. While this Atlantic article is behind a paywall, it’s worth reading if you have a subscription. It explores some of the reasons why this failure happened, including our trend toward reliance on monolithic systems. To quote, “it’s an unwise choice to have so much critical infrastructure riding on one company or one batch of digital code.”

Let's blame the dev who pressed "Deploy". This is an opinion piece that includes some colorful language (you’ve been warned) about the inevitable finger-pointing that happens after high profile incidents like this one. The author wrote this in response to a blog post titled “After CrowdStrike, Programmers Deserve Consequences.“ Most cybersecurity leaders would agree that the responsibility falls more on leadership and executives than in does on individual (often underpaid and overworked) developers.

🤝 Professional Networking

➡️ These folks are offering useful insights on the CrowdStrike incident. You can connect with or follow them on LinkedIn.

• George Kurtz - CEO, CrowdStrike

• John Hammond - Cybersecurity Researcher

• Kevin Nejad - Founder and CEO at Vijilan Security | Cyber Security Consultant | IT Security | Digital Forensic Specialist | SIEM | SOC | XDR | mXDR | MDR | DFIR | Incident Response| Cloud Security

• Chris M. - 💼 THE Cleared Tech and CyberSecurity Recruiter, RedSec Recruiting | 💻 Security Researcher -REal0day

• Keith M. Murley - IT and data security leader | Business & technology executive | Transformation champion

💼 Interview Tips

Instead of cramming for an interview, you can take a continuous approach to preparation by building a relationship with a mentor.

But how to find and connect with that mentor? That’s going to take a little work on your part, but I’ve got a few resources you can leverage to lighten that load.

• This Guide for Effective Cybersecurity Mentorship includes tips on how to build a mentor/mentee relationship.

• Twenty Questions for Your Cybersecurity Mentor contains conversation starters to help you move that relationship forward.

• Every Monday, I post guidance for mentors and mentees on LinkedIn to encourage those conversations. Follow the #MondayMentorship hashtag to make sure you’re keeping up with those conversations.

💡 Training Opportunities

In light of the CrowdStrike incident, now is a great time to brush up on your security incident response skills.

If you’ve got a Premium profile, or if your company has a LinkedIn Learning subscription, you can check out these courses anytime you’d like.

But even if you don’t have a LinkedIn Learning subscription, you can use these links to take these courses for FREE. The links themselves shouldn’t expire, but as soon as you click on them, you have 24 hours to complete the courses. You can bookmark them for a rainy day.

• Learning Cyber Incident Response and Digital Forensics

• Incident Response Planning

• DevOps Foundations: Incident Management

➡️ Knock out a course over lunch or bookmark them all for a rainy day.

🚀 Career Opportunities

If you’re looking for an Entry Level or Associate role, you might want to check out these opportunities:

• Information Security Analyst, VirginPulse

• ITSC Security Analyst, Capital Rx

• Service Delivery Analyst, MindPoint Group

• Security Health Technician, BlueVoyant

• Operations Analyst (Journeyman), Crystal Management

If you’re looking for a Mid-Senior Level role, you might want to check out these opportunities:

• Security Architect, IvoryCloud

• Cybersecurity Instructor (Virtual & Remote), Stellar Career College

• Security Analyst - Information Security, ITS, West Virginia University

• Cyber Threat Analyst, The College Board

• IT Contracts & Vendor Management Analyst

📚 The Bookstore

Given the recent CrowdStrike incident, I’ve actually got two recommendations this week.

The Blue Team Handbook: Incident Response Edition by Don Murdoch GSE is a concise guide for cybersecurity professionals involved in incident response. It covers the incident response process, attacker techniques, common tools, and methodologies for network and system analysis. The book offers practical insights and techniques based on real-world experience, aiming to equip readers with the knowledge to effectively handle security incidents.

The Blue Team Field Manual (BTFM) by Alan J. White and Ben Clark is a cybersecurity incident response guide aligned with the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. It provides tactical steps and commands for preparing, responding, and recovering from cyber security incidents. This practical guide is a valuable resource for IT professionals and cybersecurity teams by offering real-world commands and scripts for Windows and Linux systems.

That's it for this week. If I’m doing my job right, you’re a few steps closer to making the career moves you want to make.

If you’re digging this newsletter, I’ve got two quick asks:

➡️ Share it with a friend or colleague who might like it as well. We’re all in this together, and sharing what we learn along the way helps everyone.

➡️ Connect with me on LinkedIn! I'm always up for chatting about all things cybersecurity and career growth.

Stay safe out there, and keep learning!

Jerod

https://simplifyingcybersecurity.com/store

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