The last 3 reflections I spoke about major setbacks I experienced in my journey so far — Inconsistency, procrastination, succumbing to bad habits. Though now I’m back on the horse!

I wrote the final draft (so I thought) of this week’s reflection yesterday, but it lacked the deep, honest, insightful nature of each of my posts. It honestly felt as if I was ticking a chore off the list. Doing a task just to get it done. Lucky enough I didn’t post it.

I honestly believe the lack of authenticity was due to me forgetting topics I wanted to talk about. Moments during the week I would constantly have thoughts, experiences that are important to discuss. Yet I forget. I recently got a notebook, and from this week onwards I’m going to write down thoughts and events that would be profoundly valuable to my posts. As well as giving me the space to actually gather my thoughts before adding them to the big screen.

When writing points down for this reflection, I realised a lot was done this week! I completed the Introduction to Web-Hacking path. I do believe this is not the place to discuss such a triumph, as its own stage is required. Stay tuned for the next ‘Introduction to Web-Hacking’ post!

What I’m about to speak about wasn’t a thought I experienced last week, but just earlier today. As you know I’ve been really focused on not just cybersecurity, but drawing as well. The two crafts are different in reality, but I can’t help but find similarity in certain facets between the two.

That has to do with the pivotal role ‘the basics’ have on both crafts! Now what is the meaning of ‘the basics’? My definition short but sweet, is the foundation. Knowing the foundation gives one the ability to dissect the intricacies of a given topic. During my course through the Intro to Web-Hacking, the importance of foundations cannot go unnoticed.

When learning file traversal, which I spoke about in-depth giving the topic its very own post. What I seemed to not understand about the vulnerability, was how the exploit was a URL exploit! Knowing the different sections of a URL, and how file traversal requires manipulating the query string of a URL is essential, which I seemed to forget about. That is why this last week I revised on an old yet important topic in cybersecurity 101 — Networking! Revising helped me fully grasp each exploit the web-hacking intro dished out. I cannot say this enough, cybersecurity is a subject that requires constant iteration! Going back to the basics such as networking, and revising on what has been forgotten is important.

Active recall was my best friend! As I initially started off by just reading the notes I made, but does that thoroughly inform oneself on what they know and do not know? It doesn’t. That’s why giving myself questions ranging in difficulty showed me where my knowledge on networking was. I forgot what subnet masks were. I truly understood the OSI model, yet I can recall (no pun intended) a day last week putting my full attention on the topic. One would say that is good but — wouldn’t it be efficient to put most of the time into topics I don’t know? Active recall gave me an idea on which areas to put all my attention into.

Drawing! I put it onto myself to draw an old-fashioned car. The complex shapes intimidated me. No way in hell will I be able to draw such a thing! The Basics!! Distinguishing the primitive shapes of the car, allowed me to fully understand the complexity of such an object. Knowing the foundation will give me the ability to draw that exact car from any angle from memory/imagination.

The basics aren’t the only important thing to acquire. The most potent similarity between cybersecurity and drawing is, time. Iteration is one too, but I believe the word is implicitly mentioned within the word ‘time’. As through time, one is given the space to fail, learn, and grow. I couldn’t draw a car. I believed it was too complex for my current abilities. I struggled to understand the concept of file traversal. Yet through time, I failed, learnt, and grew!

Now through utilising my time, and the basics of complex topics such as cybersecurity and drawing. I’m ready to not understand, learn from my mistakes, and conquer my challenges. Stay triumphant!