This is Cypher Field Notes, a project I started to document my discovery of the huge, ever-expanding digital world.
My name is Robert, and I am a veteran and writer with a love for learning. After leaving the army over a decade ago, I faced a crisis of identity. I enlisted right of high school, and when I retired I had no idea where I wanted to go in life.
Like most veterans in my situation, I went to college. I got a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, which really just meant that I took a bunch of classes from different subjects, but I didn't specialize in anything. I had too many interests to really nail down any one direction, which was problematic for starting a career.
I ended up becoming a freelance writer for various platforms, and I've written about everything from pimple cream to video games. I went down the Upwork and Fivver routes, and I managed to eek out a living for a little while. But honestly, I was bored.
Just before the advent of AI, I started looking into a career change. Phrases like "cyber security" and "learn-to-code" bubbled up into my social media feeds, so I started looking into them. I mean, I was a writer after all, and I was often hired to research trending topics and write something about them.
What I discovered was disheartenting...I didn't know what anyone was talking about. I read post after post, article after article, and I was just lost.
What are these people about? What's a bot? What's an OSINT? What's a kernel?
It was maddening.
So, I made a choice. I could either ignore this confusing cyber landscape, or I could jump in start learning about it. I could continue bumping along as a freelance writer for underpaying clients, or I could commit to understanding the chaos.
That choice ultimately led to Cypher Field Notes.
I started taking introductory courses in cyber security on IBM's Skillsbuild platform. I also got into a Google certificate in cybersecurity. I sought these out to give myself a basic understanding of what was going on around me. They are beginner-level courses, and that's what I needed at that time. But I quickly found that I had more questions than answers.
Sure, I was learning the "lingo" and able to understand more posts on X or Reddit than before, but I wanted to learn more.
For example, instead of just learning that ports are used by threat actors to gain access to a system, I wanted to know what exactly a port was. And why are there so many of them? Were they all created at the same time, or over a period of time?
I mean, I wanted to dig deep and gain both a microscopic and a macroscopic view of what was really happening. While I continue to take courses and learning oppornities that come my way, I started this project to document the journey.
For all I know, there are others out there like me who didn't grow up online. I am not a digital native and must learn to navigate the exiting world that surrounds me. That's what I'm doing here.
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Also, don't hesitate to comment on my work. I'm not writing from a position of authority or experience; I'm writing as a student. So if I present information that isn't quite accurate, please let me know. That way I can learn, and then others can learn as well!