Monthly Update: What’s new from October 2021?

It's time for another update on what's going on with TheCU and me. Tons of stuff actually. Let's dive in.

Site Updates

This month The Cyber Union has gone through cosmetic surgery and gotten some what of a facelift. I took the time to update images and organize the information a little better. The most important changes were:

• Added advertisements to pages. Yes, this is kind of lame but it would be great to monetize the site a little. Right now, this is the only form of income from the site. Which totaled  about $3 for the month of October. I am thinking of other ways to generate revenue. Perhaps some classes in the near future.
• The addition of a newsletter sign up. I have big plans for this to keep everyone up to date on tips and site updates. Once I get about 20 signups, I will begin sending out the newsletter.
• Land a Job has been modified. I have now broken up this into multiple pages to hold all the amazing goodness from the November blogs. Keep checking back for more goodies.
• New section names for pen testing and analysis. I wanted to consolidate space in the banner, therefore smaller names were best. These are now Offense and Defense. 

November Plans

​November blogs will all be based around helping people get their first job in infosec. If you have any suggested topics, send me a message. Right now, I am working on blogs to answer the questions I hear the most from interns, reddit, and random people I meet trying to get in the industry. Expect this information to be placed under “Land a Job.”

YouTube Channel

I have had some of you ask, “when are you going to start making videos again?” Guess what? It is coming back!

YouTube is a great place to share content and really engage with my readers. Not to mention I kind of enjoy the video editing process and learning a new skill.
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I am settling into my new office but plan to start releasing videos on a bi-weekly basis. I am not sure what content I will do but hopefully, everyone will enjoy it. Let me know what you would like to see!

Personal

I have been reading Game of Thrones' final book and it is pretty awesome. Although, I must admit that I will be sad to finish and wait for the next books to come out.

For pet study topic, I am still focused on  malware analysis/reverse engineering. What a beast of a topic. I don’t have any plans to blog about this stuff in the near future but I am sure I will spread this knowledge at some point.

The binary challenges have really been kicking my butt during CTF's. I am determined to solve all of them on at least one competition.

CTF

Speaking of CTF's. The CTF team I am a member of is called “TrailerTrash.” So far, we have participated in a couple of events since October. Unfortunately, we haven’t placed well but we also haven’t been able to devote ourselves to the competition fully either.
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Our plan is that each of us will settle in on a category and work towards mastering that one subject. So we are taking in the lessons from these CTF’s and using them to shore up our weaknesses. Look for our team in upcoming CTF’s!

​Appalachian Trail Hike 2022

This may be news to my readers but, the count down is on for the 2022 Appalachian Trail thru-hike. I will be on my way from Georgia to Maine for almost half of next year to conquer the over 2100 miles that make up the trail.

Don’t expect a ton of blogs during that time but I plan to be on at least Discord, Twitter, and Instagram while I am walking. Once back, I will drop a big blog about my experiences and hopefully put together a video for YouTube.
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Wish me luck as I prepare my body and my backpack for the long journey ahead.