Cloud
I'm currently using Udemy (Scott Duffy's course, as recommended by a colleague - £13.99 at the time of purchase) to study for the AZ-104 Azure Administrator exam with the addition of the Microsoft docs site listed below and John Savill's exam prep video. You can sign up to get a free 30 day Azure trial with Microsoft with £150 worth of credit to play with, which will help with the practical component. The Azure AZ-104 qualification is dropping down from a bi-annual renewal to annual, due to the amount of content change that goes on in a year.
- https://www.youtube.com/c/NTFAQGuy
- John Savill's training site - he is a go to resource for anything Azure related
- https://www.udemy.com/
- A CBT site where you can find reasonably priced courses on many, many subjects. These are yours for life and many of the trainers keep the courses up to date
- https://www.pluralsight.com/
- A subscription based CBT training site which has training courses on many subjects. Once your subscription expires you no longer have access to the courses
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/
- Free Microsoft resource which covers pretty much all their technology stack
Networking
I have been using all the below resources, bar Pluralsight, for studying for the CCNA. If you want to just get some general network knowledge then I'd recommend Professor Messer's free YouTube channel which covers CompTIA Security+.
- https://www.youtube.com/user/kwallaceccie
- Cisco trainer Kevin Wallace
- https://www.youtube.com/c/DavidBombal
- A Cisco trainer who has also branched out to white hat hacking, also has courses on Udemy
- https://www.youtube.com/c/KeithBarker
- Another Cisco trainer
- https://www.youtube.com/c/professormesser
- Free YouTube site for CompTIA A+/Network+/Security+ training (used this for my Security+ accreditation)
- https://www.udemy.com/
- A CBT site where you can find reasonably priced courses on many, many subjects. These are yours for life and many of the trainers keep the courses up to date
- https://www.pluralsight.com/
- A subscription based CBT training site which has training courses on many subjects. Once your subscription expires you no longer have access to the courses
Cybersecurity
I used to, and still do, struggle to find resources for all things Cybersecurity to get information on the latest issues. Shaun did give me some pointers of following people on twitter and listening to podcasts to get the latest news. I've built on that by finding some more people on YouTube who publish regularly and their recommendations lead to other people to follow. Gerald Auger is someone I've stumbled upon recently who has a lot of content on YouTube and has daily briefs on the days "hot topics". He also updates daily on LinkedIn so you can follow him there.
If you are interested in the offensive security side (penetration, or pen, testing) then there are a number of resources below that provide reasonably priced CBT courses developed by industry specialists (so developed around their real-world experience) - see The Cyber Mentor (Heath Adams) and HackerSploit.
The constant theme is that you need to know Networking principles and understand the basics of Security as a minimum to get into Cybersecurity industry - which in real terms means get the CompTIA Networking+ and Security+ accreditations and build from there. The assumption maybe that you already know how a computer works and if not CompTIA A+ would be very handy. The next recommendation is to know your way around Linux as most of the tools used for pen testing are built for this operating system rather than Windows.
- https://www.youtube.com/c/GeraldAuger
- Gerald Auger has a back catalogue of talks that he has hosted with lots and lots of different guest speakers about a wide range of cybersecurity subjects
- This includes daily roundup briefs for current threats
- https://www.simplycyber.io/free-cyber-resources -
- Gerald Auger's website that has a page of useful free resources including recommended podcasts, YouTube channels, FREE college courses etc
- https://github.com/gerryguy311/Free_CyberSecurity_Professional_Development_Resources
- Another set of resources from Gerald Auger on GitHub - highly recommend you just browse through this as there are loads and loads of links to Podcasts, YouTube Channels, free College (University to UK people) courses etc, etc
- https://pauljerimy.com/security-certification-roadmap/
- Cybersecurity certifications are mapped out showing what role they lead to
- https://www.cyberseek.org/pathway.html
- A visual of cybersecurity pathways including feeder paths
- https://www.blackhillsinfosec.com/
- A cybersecurity training organisation with podcasts as well
- https://www.udemy.com/
- A CBT site where you can find reasonably priced courses on many, many subjects. These are yours for life and many of the trainers keep the courses up to date
- https://www.thecybermentor.com/
- Heath Adams site - another cybersecurity industry evangelist who focuses on red teaming (white hat hacking/pen testing etc)
- https://academy.tcm-sec.com/
- Affordable red team (offensive security) courses from Heath Adams and friends
- https://www.youtube.com/c/TheCyberMentor
- Free training from Heath Adams (he also has training on Udemy)
- https://www.youtube.com/c/HackerSploit
- Some very good white hat offensive strategy training videos including a pen testing bootcamp….all for free
- https://my.ine.com/
- Training site that focuses on cybersecurity training
- https://www.cybrary.it/
- Free and paid cybersecurity training site
- https://www.youtube.com/c/professormesser
- Free YouTube site for CompTIA A+/Network+/Security+ training (used this for my Security+ accreditation)
- https://www.youtube.com/c/JohnHammond010
- Another useful site for red teaming, CTF (capture the flag), etc, etc
- https://www.youtube.com/user/DEFCONConference
- DEFCON collection of videos, updated regularly
- https://www.pluralsight.com/
- A subscription based CBT training site which has training courses on many subjects. Once your subscription expires you no longer have access to the courses
- https://www.youtube.com/c/DavidBombal
- A Cisco trainer who has also branched out to white hat hacking, also has courses on Udemy
Remember on average it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert on a subject/skill, which equate to about 5 years, so don't expect it to be an overnight thing! That being said don't let that put you off as all things take time and effort to achieve. You will see as time goes by how your knowledge in a subject increases along with your confidence - so enjoy the journey.
Studying can be a bit like going to the gym, a bit of a chore until it turns into a habit. Creating a timetable may help…..
