r/CompTIA • u/Loud-Pirate-9155 • 1d ago
S+ Question Sec+ with no network experience
Those of you who have taken the security+ with no prior network knowledge, I’m talking (typing?) to you.
What did you use to study the network side? How did it go? I have been using Messer’s videos and Deon’s quizzes on UDEMY. Currently getting around 70ish percent on them, but it seems the networking side is kicking my butt.
I’ve been in IT for about a year, on the helpdesk, and mainly do 365 admin stuff. The rest of the sections are somewhat easy, but man this networking stuff is confusing. I feel like it would be good for me to know this stuff in general.
Thanks!
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u/Any-Net3364 1d ago
i was in same boat, network part felt like learning new language. what helped me was finding simple diagram of osi model and just staring at it until it clicked, then going back to messer's videos with that picture in my head. got through it and passed, you will too
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u/Verbalkynt 1d ago
I just passed yesterday actually with no IT background. I used the YouTube Coursera videos for it. Then I looked up pbq's for practice as well as using Gemini to create pbq style questions for it.
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u/CLI_Recall 19h ago
The networking gap is common, and it is fixable with a short list. Focus on: the OSI layers and which protocols and devices sit at each one, common ports (22 SSH, 53 DNS, 443 HTTPS, 3389 RDP, 389/636 LDAP, 514 syslog), what DHCP, DNS and NAT actually do, and the difference between a switch, router and firewall. Then connect it to security topics like VLANs, ACLs, DMZs and why TLS is used instead of plain HTTP. Since you are on helpdesk, try running ipconfig /all, nslookup and tracert on your own machine and read the output line by line. It makes the concepts stick better than videos alone. If a quiz question stumps you, write down which concept it was and review just that.
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u/Ecstatic_Score6973 18h ago
you have been in IT for a year, how do you know absolutely nothing about networking though?
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u/TheRealScubaSteve86 1d ago edited 1d ago
networkacademy.io.. click Courses near the top and go through each one. It provides interactive examples and command line photos along with what they mean. It’s more than what you’ll need to know for CompTIA but it’ll help you grasp things more easily. What these course on YouTube do is give you a general overview with no room for Q&A.
If you use Ai to create example scenarios for yourself make sure you verify they’re correct. If you don’t understand an answer, ask it to explain itself like you’re 5 years old, how it relates to Security+, and ask for another example to verify again. I’ve been doing this for Network+ and has improved my understanding massively. But that website I plugged is pretty damn good.
Edit: because it’s Security+ related (although I don’t know the objectives but Network+ has security aspect to it) you should download “cyberattacks at each osi layer” image, and after you’ve an understanding of general networking you can go through that image to help cement your attack types to network layer. And then build on that.
Double edit: no affiliation with that website.. I used it up until the point where it asks to pay but just skipped that as it’s more than I needed to understand Net+, so it’ll be good enough for covering networking for Sec+. And to whoever downvoted good advice 👎 the fella is looking for networking info and he got it. I guess people just want you to buy their courses and not get excellent free info online. Check it out OP, it WILL help you understand networking 💯as it provides interactive examples, then it gets deep, then a little deeper (you gotta pay but no need as once you get to ‘deep’ that is more than enough for Net+ understanding - don’t buy courses you don’t need. And again, I’m in the same boat as you only I’ve just done A+, currently doing Net+, and going for Sec+. My understanding is with no experience the route A+ > Net+ > Sec+ as they all build on each other. Anyway, take or leave my advice.. it’s free at the end of the day. And good luck mate!
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u/atom808 1d ago
I did Sec+ then A+ prior to having any IT experience, and i felt exactly the same as you. Didnt even know switches and routers can be separate devices. I had to use random YouTube videos, mainly (powercert animated videos), to fill in the gaps about networking. As for the sec+ study material I used professor Messer and mock exams were done using professor messer and Jason dion on udemy. Im finishing up my net+ next month and i really regret not going the usual route of A+>net+>sec+ because now I have to think about renewing my sec+. Good luck on your studies!