Networking Fundamentals for Cybersecurity: A Practical Guide
Introduction — Why Networking Is a Core Cybersecurity Skill An analyst opens an alert: an internal host has made repeated outbound connections to an unfamiliar…
Olivia Bennett27 min readCybersecurity
Olivia Bennett27 min read
Linux for Cybersecurity: Essential Skills Every Beginner Needs
Introduction — Why Linux Matters in Cybersecurity A junior analyst gets handed their first real ticket: a suspicious process spawning from a web server. The…
Olivia Bennett22 min read
How to Become a Penetration Tester: Skills, Tools & Salary
What Is a Penetration Tester? Another week, another breach headline — a hospital system knocked offline, a retailer’s customer database circulating on a forum, a…
Olivia Bennett22 min read
OSCP for Offensive Security: Is It Really Worth It in 2026?
What Is OSCP? OSCP stands for OffSec Certified Professional (it was originally named Offensive Security Certified Professional, and most of the industry still uses that…
Olivia Bennett18 min read
Security Architect: Skills, Salary, Career Path & How to Become One
What Is a Security Architect? A Security Architect designs how an organization’s technology should be protected before it’s built, not after. Where most cybersecurity roles…
Olivia Bennett22 min read
Cloud Security Engineer: What They Do and How to Build a Career in Cloud Security
A startup has moved its application to the cloud. The app works. Customers can sign in. Developers can ship updates whenever they want. Everything looks…
Olivia Bennett28 min read
Incident Responder: What Does an Incident Responder Do and How to Build a Career in Incident Response?
At 2:17 AM, a security team receives an alert. An employee account has authenticated from an unusual location. Minutes later, an endpoint begins making suspicious…
Olivia Bennett23 min read
Security Analyst: What Does a Security Analyst Do and How to Build a Career?
Monday morning, four things land on a security team’s desk within an hour of each other. An endpoint agent flags unusual behavior on a finance…
Olivia Bennett25 min read
SOC Analyst: What Does a Security Operations Center Analyst Do?
An employee logs into the company VPN from a country they’ve never traveled to. It’s 3 a.m. local time. The login succeeds on the first…
Olivia Bennett22 min read
How Cyber Attacks Work: From Reconnaissance and Initial Access to Detection, Response, and Recovery
Understanding how a cyber attack actually unfolds isn’t about learning to become an attacker. It’s about understanding exactly where defenses can fail, so security teams…
Olivia Bennett16 min read