The Monthly Patch 2025.02

February has been a busy and productive month, filled with job applications, technical learning, and hands-on projects. While progress hasn’t always been as fast as I’d like, I’ve gained valuable insights from both my job search and my cybersecurity studies.

🚀 Job Hunt & Career Progress

This month, I completed refining my resume and updated my LinkedIn profile, and the results have been noticeable—I’ve seen a significant increase in positive responses to my job applications.

I’m continuing to apply for both Help Desk and Cybersecurity roles, though breaking into the SOC Analyst job market without prior SOC experience has proven to be a challenge. However, I’ve had several interviews, and while I’m still waiting to hear back on some, the feedback I’ve received has been incredibly valuable.

Most rejections have been due to other candidates having more experience, but the recruiters I’ve spoken with have been open and honest, providing constructive feedback on where I can improve. I’ve appreciated their time and insights, and I’m using this feedback to refine my approach and skillset moving forward.

📚 Technical Learning & Hands-On Experience

I’ve been actively learning on TryHackMe this month and made great progress—moving from the top 10% of users to the top 4% on the platform.

Originally, I had planned to complete the SOC Level 1 learning path, the Google Cybersecurity Certificate, and job hunting all within February. However, that turned out to be too ambitious given the amount of time needed to prepare for interviews and refine my job applications.

Achievements:

✅ Completed 50% of the SOC Level 1 learning path on TryHackMe.
✅ Decided to focus on SOC training over the Google Cybersecurity Certificate (which I’ll return to later).
✅ Continued adding and refining my notes in Obsidian while working through my studies.
✅ Uploaded my public notes to GitHub for easier reference and sharing.

Next month, I plan to finish the SOC Level 1 learning path and explore ways to apply what I’ve learned in practical lab environments.

🛠️ Home Lab & Technical Projects

This month, I expanded my home lab setup with some exciting new additions:

🔥 Set up a Kali Linux VM on my unRAID server – This allows me to securely access my pentesting environment from anywhere via VPN, making it easier to work on TryHackMe from any device while traveling.

🔥 Found a method to self-host my Obsidian notes on unRAID – A Reddit post inspired me to explore this, and I plan to set up a self-hosted Obsidian vault in March. This will give me greater control over my knowledge base while keeping it accessible from anywhere.

🔥 Worked with Snort IDS for TryHackMe labs – While I haven’t started my full SIEM lab yet, I enjoyed working with Snort for intrusion detection, and I’m considering setting up a dedicated IDS on one of my Raspberry Pi devices.

🔍 Skill Gaps & Learning Focus for March

Through technical interview assessments, I identified areas that need improvement:

  • SQL & Python for cybersecurity applications – Some assessments required SQL knowledge for database queries, and I realised I need to refresh my SQL skills so I was better prepared to complete these tasks without my notes and reference material.
  • Intermediate Python scripting – I want to improve my ability to automate security tasks, such as cleaning up logs to make them more readable.

To address these gaps, I’ll be diving deeper into SQL and Python, and I plan to document my learning process and automation scripts on GitHub.

📰 Staying Updated on Cybersecurity News

I continued following Simply Cyber’s Daily Threat Brief, TL;DR’s Cybersecurity Newsletter, and The Hacker News to stay informed on industry trends.

Key Cybersecurity News Highlight – CVE-2025-0108

One of the biggest vulnerabilities this month was CVE-2025-0108, a critical flaw in Palo Alto Networks’ PAN-OS.

  • It allowed unauthenticated attackers to bypass authentication on the management web interface and execute PHP scripts.
  • The EPSS score was around 97%, meaning it had an extremely high probability of being exploited in the wild.
  • Confirmed active exploitation was occurring at the time of disclosure.

This vulnerability was a stark reminder of the importance of proper access controls and patch management.

🎯 March 2025 Goals

✅ Continue applying for cybersecurity and IT roles, focusing on Help Desk and SOC Analyst positions.
✅ Complete the TryHackMe SOC Level 1 Learning Path.
✅ Deep dive into SQL and Python for cybersecurity applications.
✅ Start my SIEM lab setup.
✅ Self-host my Obsidian notes on unRAID.
✅ Experiment with setting up an IDS on a Raspberry Pi.

February was a challenging but productive month, and I’m feeling motivated for March. Cybersecurity is a constant learning journey, and I’m excited to keep pushing forward.

Thanks for reading! If you want to follow my progress, check out my Monthly Patch updates in the Posts section or connect with me online!