Second Quarter Review

Today marks my halfway point in the SOC Level 1 certification course. 🎉

I once fell into the classic trap of chasing percentages. I treated them like a report card for my learning. Turns out, that’s not only unrealistic but also a pretty terrible way to measure real progress.

Real progress lives in the struggle - the long, exhausting “why is my brain buffering right now?” phase. You sit there confused… and then suddenly, out of nowhere, the ah-ha moment hits. That’s when everything clicks and you realize, “Ohhh… so that’s what they meant.”

Honestly, the hardest part isn’t knowing the material. It’s being able to clearly explain it. Putting thoughts into words, connecting the dots, and making the whole picture actually make sense - that’s the real challenge.

Learning 3 highlights

• SIEM tools like Kibana and Splunk (especially Splunk), plus network traffic analysis with Wireshark
• Using tools to analyze data and detect threats such as data exfiltration and MITM attacks
• Analyzing cybersecurity events using frameworks like MITRE, UKC, and the Pyramid of Pain

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Last Modified: 2025-12-18