I took the "Introduction to Network Analysis" course on Centri to learn more about security. I had to look at the actual traffic being made across networks. It really put into perspective how systems talk to each other and how much you can actually see if you know how to look at the raw data.
Highlights
I hadn't actually used tools like Wireshark or Tcpdump before this, so diving in was a totally fun experience. Getting my hands on this technology for the first time felt very rewarding since I'm able to learn new things about web-security. Being able to see how data moves across a network and picking up new security concepts while navigating the software was very rewarding.
When it came to Wireshark, the learning curve was steep, but it forced me to stop just staring at the interface and actually start navigating it. I spent a lot of time messing around with filters and learning how to piece sessions together. It was very satisfying to take these complicated things I was seeing and analyzing it until I can actually see what’s going on between the client and the server.
I took that same hands-on approach when I moved to Tcpdump in the Linux terminal. Applying everything I learned, from the basics of ARP, ICMP, DNS, and HTTP/HTTPS to spotting weird traffic or unusual packet flags, really came together during the capstone activity. Being able to take those concepts and actually apply them to solve the challenge was very satisfying.
