Cybersecurity: The Beginner's Guide: A comprehensive guide to getting started in cybersecurity

by Erdal Özkaya

It's not a secret that there is a huge talent gap in the cybersecurity industry. Everyone is talking about it including the prestigious Forbes Magazine, Tech Republic, CSO Online, DarkReading, and SC Magazine, among many others. Additionally, Fortune CEO's like Satya Nadella, McAfee's CEO Chris Young, Cisco's CIO Colin Seward along with organizations like ISSA, research firms like Gartner too shine light on it from time to time.

This book put together all the possible information with regards to cybersecurity, why you should choose it, the need for cybersecurity and how can you be part of it and fill the cybersecurity talent gap bit by bit. Starting with the essential understanding of security and its needs, we will move to the security domain changes and how artificial intelligence and machine learning are helping to secure systems. Later, this book will walk you through all the skills and tools that everyone who wants to work as a security personal needs to be aware of. Then, this book will teach readers how to think like an attacker and explore some advanced security methodologies. 

Lastly, this book will dive deep into how to build practice labs, explore real-world use cases, and get acquainted with various security certifications.
By the end of this book, readers will be well-versed with the security domain and will be capable of making the right choices in the cybersecurity field
Things you will learn

Genres: Technology

396 pages, Paperback

Published May 27, 2019

Reviews

[WIlliam Gerrard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am just about to embark in an online professional cybersecurity course with Masterschool in Tel Aviv, Israel. I am a relative novice in this field and in order to be as prepared as possible for the new academic venture I bought this introductory text to bring me up to speed with the basic of my new chosen specialisation. Cybersecurity is a new emerging growth technology industry and its history is recent. It is an exciting and growing field full of opportunity and career potential and as our daily lives become more and more dependent on computers and technology cybersecurity is becoming more significant and necessary. There are bad actors out there on the internet be they credit card fraudsters, identity theft criminals, hacker groups with political or non-political motives or rogue nation states such as North Korea, China and Russia. Cybersecurity changes rapidly as silicon chips speed up, computer memory exponentially increases and as the internet of things reaches into every aspect of our daily lives and critical infrastructure. A skilled cybersecurity professional will learn the necessary skills and stay p to date with new tech, in order to protect against the bad actors and to preserve the significant benefits that the modern world experiences from the paradigm shift that is the modern age of computer technology. This book is covers such a vast range of material and is well-compiled by author Erdal Ozkaya, detailing the skills necessary to succeed and whenever possible getting direct input from significant workers and experts in the field. For me, the most relevant and inspiring chapter was Chapter 11 where expert opinions were sought out in interviews to leaders in the field from across the globe in a wide variety of different employment roles. This direct experience of cybersecurity professionals spoke truth and the advice was immeasurable and left one feeling with a sense of awe at the incredible opportunities that studying cybersecurity and becoming a professional could offer. The book, chapter by chapter, covers various specialist skills and niche areas of the whole field of this new discipline. Whereas it is possible for a student to become an overall jack of all trades and general cybersecurity expert, in reality the whole expanse of necessary material means (and this is backed up by experts) should be that a student should seek to focus and specialise in a particular niche market, becoming a true master of that particular cybersecurity subcategory. I was drawn to the exciting nature of penetration testing and digital forensics seems to have a lucrative and growing future also. It would be also a noble career path to somehow work in the wider geopolitical sphere in cyberdefense and cyberwarfare. To be honest I was a bit overwhelmed and baffled by the material in this book. Virtually 90% of it was completely new knowledge to me and I got a bit confused with the various terminologies etc and felt like I definitely had a big mountain to climb sat in front of me as the journey progresses. The good thing is that this book is an excellent and comprehensive starting point and as a reference point I can see it standing on my computer desk for quite some time into the future. There are plenty of links to follow up and research to be done. I am sure that once the Masterschool course is complete that the final section of this book about career paths and interviewing etc will be a most vital source. I've added other texts by this author to my amazon wishlist and can highly recommend this accessible and inspiring book to any fellow newcomers to cybersecurity.

[Tan Heng · Rating 5 out of 5]

The world is awash with the technological revolution and putting in strong attention on technology. Technology is an important part of everyday lives. The heavy use of technology also demands a need for the importance of cybersecurity since cyber criminals are taking advantage of technological progress to look out for vulnerabilities to wreak damage and pain upon victims. Dangers such as malware and ransomware loom in cyberspace. Cyber threats loom over digital users, businesses and governments. Overall I think that the book is generally readable for the general audience even if one is not from a technical background. It is a good introduction to the cybersecurity landscape, the critical importance of cybersecurity professionals to protect us, life in cybersecurity and what it takes to break into this field.

[Mohamed Rafeek]

This book was written only for beginners who don't know anything about Cybersecurity as a domain that has become essential in our daily lives. It's not for IT experts or anyone other than someone who doesn't know anything about Cybersecurity. I don't recommend reading it if you have some knowledge about Cybersecurity. Instead, read a book that teaches you how to code and think like a hacker.

[Evgeniy Sokoloff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an excellent guide for anyone interested to step into cybersecurity.
I particularly enjoyed the section "Expert opinions on getting started with Cyberecurity" where the reader may grasp advice from the leaders of this field.

[James Ronholm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dated and not exactly scholarly.