I was able to use my time in 2020 (what a year!) to learn new things and am lucky to work for a company who supports my professional and personal development to the point where I also took several key exams and got some new certs. All in line with what I do and more importantly, what I have to do to stay ahead of the game.
Cyber-security in all its forms is a constantly changing playground and you need to keep your mind open to learning new things and trying new techniques and technologies.
However, one of my proudest moments of 2020 was the fact that I fixed a clock. Not just any old clock – but a tall case clock which had lost its bong and no longer ticked.
More out of curiosity rather than necessity I opened the case to find a plethora of cogs, gears and bits of brass which have no name – but have an important function in the workings of a clock. It heightened my admiration for the genius ‘Steve’ on The Repair Shop TV Programme for his skill, knowledge and general passion for fixing things with cogs in.
Unlike Steve, I had no idea where to start but armed with a torch, a pair of Plus2 specs and Google – I set to it. After all how hard could it be? Google “How to fix a clock” doesn’t help. In fact, once I had trawled through the thousands of potential information leads, posts, forums, expert advice video clips – I was left more daunted than when I first opened the case.
Information overload is what they call it (I hear it a lot in my classes!)
So the analyst in me kicked in. Which bit do I need to concentrate on to make the cogs work? The Pendulum. Start there and see where it leads to.
So I started in the small area that I needed to concentrate on and as if luck would have it – I saw something that didn’t look quite right. The top part of the pendulum rod was not moving enough to make the rocker mechanism move the first set of cogs (that’s what the tick tock is by the way!) So I was able to focus on an even smaller part of the clock to see what I could do to fix it.
Now I could research with more accuracy the bit I was interested in to fix the whole network of cogs which made the whole enterprise tick. I found the problem – which was a missing pin that holds the pendulum in place and was able to fix it with a suitable replacement pin which I stole from the sewing tin. I think in the world of computing – we call that a shim – not a proper fix but it will do until I get a proper patch for it.
Once I got the pendulum swinging and more importantly it remained swinging – I then worked on fine tuning the timing and the chimes. Each task allowed me to concentrate on a small part of the problem which in turn allowed me to learn how the whole clock works. There are still plenty of ‘unknowns’ moving and spinning in the clock but I was successful in making the clock work again. If for no other reward – my wife was impressed. Although less so when I told her I had fixed it with a pin (I am not Steve). I am not an expert but I have a good understanding of how the mechanisms work as I have seen it first hand and researched the relevant parts.
The whole world of IT or if you prefer ‘Cyber’ is just a whole load of spinning, swinging and rocking parts which somehow fit together to make things work. I am not just thinking about the physical components, but all the technical elements and the experts who look after it. Each company has its own Repair Shop of experts who deal with their sections with credentials, knowledge and experience. Each organisation has its own unique set up of software, hardware, networking and storage. Each organisation has its own unique set of problems to keep the pendulum swinging.
Recently I attended a webinar on the ‘Internet of Things (IoT) Forensics’ which was one of those things you do when you are either interested in the subject matter or just curious to see how it works. To be honest, I didn’t learn very much from the experience but I did pick up a few things which I had not thought of before.
One element was the effect that Big Data, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence has to play in the ‘Smart City’ world and how tricky it can be if you are investigating these areas post incident or for some forensic reason. Up to now, I had been aware of the concepts of Big Data, ML and AI and indeed have come into contact with certain elements of it when dealing with Intrusion Detection Systems and Cloud based technologies. However – try a Google Search on Big Data, ML or AI and sit back and watch your screen explode with information overload.
What I have subsequently discovered and continue to discover, is that if you concentrate on one small cog and learn how it ticks other cogs are connected and you soon get good at your particular area of interest and subsequently the connected cogs don’t appear so daunting. If you follow a logical path of interconnected cogs you soon learn how to make the enterprise tick and you are able to operate, monitor, protect and troubleshoot more effectively. You may also make your loved ones proud – just don’t tell them how easy it is (or that you used a pin)!
Learning about areas such as Big Data, Machine Learning and AI can be daunting, until you realise that you don’t need to know about the whole enterprise all in one go.
Concentrate on the areas you are concerned with and spotlight the technologies that are relevant to your role or organisation first. Learn from somebody who is skilled and experienced in these areas but also knows the bigger picture and can guide you through the network of cogs that make these things tick.
Start with the foundations or fundamental courses that will get the pendulum swinging and then you can concentrate on the bigger cogs which you will find easier to tackle knowing the basic connections.
Microsoft, Amazon and Google are the main players and start with one of them (not all three at once!). Learning is fun when you actually learn stuff so don’t bite off more than you can chew and you will soon look back with pride at what you have achieved in very little time.
