Training on System Overlord

Security 101: Learning From Home

david@systemoverlord.com (David Tomaschik) — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Outside, there’s a pandemic. We’re being asked to stay indoors, shelter in place, and avoid social contact. Conferences are cancelled, live trainings are out of the question. Some businesses are closing (hopefully temporarily) and there are unfortunate layoffs and furloughs across the board. It’s a tough time.

Rather than dwell on the negative, focusing on something else can help you get through this mentally. Learning something or growing your skills can both help take away from the anxiety of the situation and also help you come out of this a better person. Whether you’re just getting started in security or looking to advance your career, or just looking to become more security-aware as an individual, there are some great options for learning from home. My lists below are by no means comprehensive – there’s more content than I can shake a stick at. However, these are intended to be good for beginners and have a diverse set of content. If you know of something I should have included, please reach out.

Course Review: Applied Hardware Attacks: Rapid Prototying & Hardware Implants

david@systemoverlord.com (David Tomaschik) — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

Over the past 4 days, I had the opportunity to take two hardware security classes taught by Joe Fitzpatrick(@securelyfitz) along with @_MG_. Both courses are part of the “Applied Hardware Attacks” series of courses taught by Joe. The first course, “Rapid Prototyping”, is focused on using 3D printers and PCB mills to build interfaces to hardware systems. The second course, aptly named “Hardware Implants” applies these skills to build hardware implants to perform attacks on hardware systems. Both courses are very timely and informative, as well as a lot of fun.

Certifications Aren't as Big a Deal as You Think

david@systemoverlord.com (David Tomaschik) — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000

For some reason, security certifications get discussed a lot, particularly in forums catering to those newer to the industry. (See, for example, /r/asknetsec.) Now I’m not talking about business certifications (ISO, etc.) but personal certifications that allegedly demonstrate some kind of skill on behalf of the individual. There seems to be a lot of focus on certifications that you “need” or that will land you your dream security job.

I’m going to make the claim that you should stop worrying about certifications and instead spend your time learning things that will help you in the real world – or better yet, actually applying your skills in the real world. There are likely some people who will strongly disagree with me, and that’s good, but I want it to be a discussion that people think about, instead of just assuming certifications are some kind of magic wand.

Course Review: Adversarial Attacks and Hunt Teaming

david@systemoverlord.com (David Tomaschik) — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

At DerbyCon 8, I had the opportunity to take the “Adversarial Attacks and Hunt Teaming” presented by Ben Ten and Larry Spohn from TrustedSec. I went into the course hoping to get a refresher on the latest techniques for Windows domains (I do mostly Linux, IoT & Web Apps at work) as well as to get a better understanding of how hunt teaming is done. (As a Red Teamer, I feel understanding the work done by the blue team is critical to better success and reducing detection.)

Course Review: Software Defined Radio with HackRF

david@systemoverlord.com (David Tomaschik) — Fri, 14 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Over the past two days, I had the opportunity to attend Michael Ossman’s course “Software Defined Radio with HackRF” at Toorcon XX. This is a course I’ve wanted to take for several years, and I’m extremely happy that I finally had the chance. I wanted to write up a short review for others considering taking the course.

Course Material

The material in the course focuses predominantly on the basics of Software Defined Radio and Digital Signal Processing. This includes the math necessary to understand how the DSP handles the signal. The math is presented in a practical, rather than academic, way. It’s not a math class, but a review of the necessary basics, mostly of complex mathematics and a bit of trigonometry. (My high school teachers are now vindicated. I did use that math again.) You don’t need the math background coming in, but you do need to be prepared to think about math during the class. Extracting meaningful information from the ether is, it turns out, an exercise in mathematics.

Hardware Hacking, Reversing and Instrumentation: A Review

david@systemoverlord.com (David Tomaschik) — Sat, 11 Nov 2017 00:00:00 +0000

I recently attended Dr. Dmitry Nedospasov’s 4-day “Hardware Hacking, Reversing and Instrumentation” training class as part of the HardwareSecurity.training event in San Francisco. I learned a lot, and it was incredibly fun class. If you understand the basics of hardware security and want to take it to the next level, this is the course for you.

The class predominantly focuses on the use of FPGAs for breaking security in hardware devices (embedded devices, microcontrollers, etc.). The advantage of FPGAs is that they can be used to implement arbitrary protocols and can operate with very high timing resolution. (e.g., single clock cycle, since it’s essentially synthesized hardware.)

Building a Home Lab for Offensive Security & Security Research

david@systemoverlord.com (David Tomaschik) — Tue, 24 Oct 2017 00:00:00 +0000

When I wrote my “getting started” post on offensive security, I promised I’d write about building a lab you can use to practice your skillset. It’s taken a little while for me to get to it, but I’m finally trying to deliver.

Much like the post on getting started, I’m not claiming to have all the answers. I’ll again be focusing on an environment that helps you build a focus in the areas I most work in – penetration testing, black box application security, and red teaming. (And if you’re wondering about the difference between a penetration test and red team, there will be a post for that too – I promise they’re very different.)