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Trying Harder – Part 1 – A Course of Action

Earlier this year I signed up for the Pentesting With Kali Linux course in an effort to improve my offensive skills and work toward my OSCP.  I will tell this story in three parts (initial preparation for the exam, preparation for the retake of the exam, and a retrospective once I pass (without spoilers).

Some things of course you will need to discover on your own; however I will discuss anything that is publicly available by Offensive Security.  At the time this article was initially published, I am currently in part two of this journey.

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Bug Bounties and You

While I was looking for ways to learn more about security without causing real world damage or getting the feds knocking on my door, I started reading about bug bounties and had gained more interest in doing bug bounties for a lot of reasons.  Not just the normal reasons like “they’re fun”, or “they’re a good learning experience”, or even “I could make money”.

Don’t get me wrong those are all valid reasons, and it wouldn’t be wrong to assume they weren’t mine, but I had something simpler in mind:  This is a skill that has absolutely no barrier to entry beyond tenacity and the discipline to teach yourself some skills, and in return a bounty hunter can make a few bucks independent of any company or organization.The notion of being able to utilize a useful skill independently appealed to me meant a form of independence.

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