D334 - Passed in 4 Days
Some background - I passed the Net+ and Sec+ over the past 3 weeks before starting this class which I think helped a bit with PKI and some of the more basic cryptography subjects. Doing them one after another does help since a lot of these concepts are still fresh in my head. I read some horror stories about this class so I was preparing to be caught off-guard with the OA. Turns out it was very straightforward and not too bad after a few solid nights of study and flash card drilling. Started this course on 11/11 and passed 4 days later.
I did not use the textbook at all, just the same AIO guide and quizlet set that everyone else uses from the course chatter. I did rewatch a couple of Professor Messer's cryptography videos from the Sec+ series and the other recommended Cryptography basics video on Pluralsight, those were pretty helpful. The full set of chapter summaries that a CI did (links are in the course chatter) were somewhat of helpfu, though alot of it is him just cruising through the textbook telling you that you don't need to remember most of it. For the most part I think the study guide is enough as long as you read all of it and do each of the chapter quizzes.
Some tips:
- You absolutely need to understand PKI like the back of your hand. Know what keys are used to encrypt/decrypt and what keys are used to sign and verify. You will not pass this until you have that down.
- Know the PKCS standards well (just the main ones.)
- Unfortunately there is no way around it - you need to memorize the block and key sizes for at least the most common ciphers (google 23BRAIDS and DEREK and know all blocks and keys for those.) Drilling the quizlets for a few days straight was enough.
- Know blockchain basics for some easy points.
On to the next one!
Posted Nov 16, 2023, 4:44 AM UTC