Why everyone needs to try TryHackMe

Towards the end of my Full Stack Software Engineering bootcamp I began exploring potential career paths. Cyber security leaped out at me from the outset. I mean, it sounds cool, right?

As a complete beginner in the field, I set out to enlighten myself as to what ‘cyber security’ actually was and how I might arm myself with the skills I would need. And it was at this point I hit the first stumbling block: where on earth to start.

Information overload

The sheer volume of articles, blog posts, online courses (paid & free), etc was a bit intimidating and most resources, as is so often the case, assume a base level of knowledge that I was yet to gain. Moreover, it turns out that cyber security is a vast field so it was hard to know how to narrow it down to one of the myriad career paths that seemed to exist.

I bought books (too out of date, or too advanced), I did Codecademy’s ‘Introduction to Cyber Security’ course, I tried Cybrary, I read blogs, I listened to online talks, downloaded podcasts while I cooked dinner. Yet I still hadn’t found an accessible, entry-level resource to teach me the basic nuts and bolts of cyber security.

Enter TryHackMe.com.

TryHackMe - cyber security training

One evening, I was listening to an online talk about women in cyber security and the speaker recommended TryHackMe as a great way for people to get started in the field. “It’s like a beginner-friendly version of Hack The Box”, she said. I checked it out immediately, and she was spot on.

TryHackMe offers beginner-friendly, hands-on cyber security training

TryHackMe offers beginner-friendly, hands-on cyber security training. They have short, ‘gamified’ lessons which are great fun - you learn a little about a topic, then test your understanding with interactive challenges and questions and it uses a clever system of virtual machines to enable you to try out your new ‘hacking’ (& defending) skills in a safe and easy way.

I’ve just reached a 30 day streak on TryHackMe and it’s safe to say I’m completely hooked. At first I started with the ‘Complete Beginner’ pathway, but I’ve since paused that and jumped to the new ‘Pre Security’ pathway, which is even better for a complete cyber security novice like me. It teaches you the absolute basics, like ‘what does a router actually do and what on earth is a switch?’.

Pre Security Pathway

The Pre Security pathway promises to teach the ‘pre-requisite technical knowledge to get started in cyber security’.

To attack or defend any technology, you have to first learn how this technology works. TryHackMe Pre Security Pathway

It covers:

• Cyber security introduction - including web app security, network security and a learning roadmap for a couple of potential career paths
• Network fundamentals - the core concepts of how computers communicate with each other and types of network weaknesses
• How the web works
• Linux fundamentals - including essential commands, how to use SSH and some of the core Linux tools like terminal text editors
• Windows fundamentals - including security controls and how to exploit, and ultimately defend, Windows systems

There’s a real emphasis on fun with this platform and it breaks down complex topics in a way that makes them less intimidating and easy to understand. There’s also an active Discord community to help if you get stuck and challenges, streaks, points and badges to help keep you motivated, not that I’ve needed any encouragement!

Give it a try and let me know what you think!