Cybersecurity Career Options for Students in Sector 62, Noida

Which cybersecurity role suits me?

Tick what you enjoy:
[ ] Reading logs and spotting unusual activity   -> SOC
[ ] Solving puzzles, finding hidden bugs          -> VAPT
[ ] Setting up routers, firewalls, networks       -> Network
[ ] Writing clear documents and checklists        -> GRC

Most ticks in one line = your starting track.
You can switch later; fundamentals are shared.

Shared fundamentals (every track)

Networking
[ ] OSI and TCP/IP models
[ ] IP addressing and subnets
[ ] Common ports: 22, 53, 80, 443, 3389
[ ] DNS, DHCP, HTTP/HTTPS basics

Operating systems
[ ] Linux file system and permissions
[ ] Windows users, groups, event logs

Security basics
[ ] CIA triad: confidentiality, integrity, availability
[ ] Common attacks: phishing, malware, brute force
[ ] Hashing vs encryption

# Run these on your OWN Linux machine or VM

# 1. Which services are listening on which ports?
sudo ss -tulpn

# 2. Who is logged in right now?
who

# 3. Recent failed SSH logins (systemd systems)
sudo journalctl -u ssh --since "today" | grep "Failed password"

# 4. Make a private file readable only by you
touch notes.txt
chmod 600 notes.txt
ls -l notes.txt     # -rw------- means owner only

# 5. Check a file has not changed (integrity)
sha256sum notes.txt

# Simple password strength checker - safe to run anywhere
import re

def strength(password: str) -> str:
    score = 0
    if len(password) >= 12: score += 1
    if re.search(r"[a-z]", password): score += 1
    if re.search(r"[A-Z]", password): score += 1
    if re.search(r"[0-9]", password): score += 1
    if re.search(r"[^A-Za-z0-9]", password): score += 1
    return ["Very weak", "Weak", "Fair", "Good", "Strong", "Very strong"][score]

for pw in ["noida123", "Sector62Noida!", "correct-Horse-7-battery"]:
    print(pw, "->", strength(pw))

Lab Write-up Template

Title: Investigating failed logins on a test server
Date: ___________
Environment: My own Ubuntu VM (isolated)

Objective:
Find out whether someone tried to brute-force SSH.

Steps:
1. Generated failed logins from a second VM
2. Read logs with journalctl
3. Counted attempts per IP address

Findings:
- ___ failed attempts from ___ in ___ minutes

Recommendation:
- Disable password login, use SSH keys
- Add rate limiting (fail2ban)

SOC Incident Note (practice)

Alert: Multiple failed logins
Severity: Medium
Time detected: ___________
Source IP: ___________
Target: test-server-01

Triage:
[ ] Is the IP internal or external?
[ ] Did any login succeed afterwards?
[ ] Is this account privileged?

Decision: Close / Escalate
Reason: _______________

Cyber Skills Tracker

Skill                        Level (0-3)   Evidence
Networking basics            ___           ___________
Linux command line           ___           ___________
Windows event logs           ___           ___________
Web basics (HTTP, cookies)   ___           ___________
SIEM / log analysis          ___           ___________
Report writing               ___           ___________

0 = new  1 = learning  2 = can do with notes  3 = confident

Weekly Lab Log
Week: ____

Lab / challenge          Time    Learnt
1. _______________       ___     _______________
2. _______________       ___     _______________
3. _______________       ___     _______________

Write-up published?  Y / N
Questions for mentor:
_______________

Job and Internship Applications

Date   Company type     Role            Source     Status
____   IT services      SOC trainee     Portal     Applied
____   Startup          Security intern Referral   Interview
____   ____________     ___________     ______     ______

Follow up after 7 days if no reply.