Locksmithing & IT

[LockLogic]

Hi all,

Great forum! Glad to be here.

Next year I'll be settling into a new US community and I've been thinking about becoming a locksmith. While I have skills with online services and with fitness, I would guess that locksmithing is more of a "captive" market than those careers that rely on customers' disposable income. Being mid-life, I have very little interest in working in some corporate cubicle. I'm good at self-employment and running my own business. I've got a family to support. If anyone has a better idea, I'm all ears!

My question is, this year I plan to study and practice both locksmithing and IT. In IT, these might be certifications in A+, Network+ and Security+. (Since I'm overseas this year I'll do most of it online). Can anyone tell me what sort of IT to concentrate on that would fit locksmithing well? Are there any electronics or other skills I should obtain outside of these IT subjects? Should I study any computer languages like PHP?

Bonus question: Are there any good online training programs focused on more up-to-date technologies? Those old 1950's sketches look a little outdated.


Thanks!

[cledry]

The main computer skills for locksmiths in the field these days would be very basic networking. Most databases are handled by simple programs and can be exported to Excel.

Electronics consists of pretty basic stuff. Reading schematics and wiring diagrams, Ohm's Law, wire colour codes, local codes that might apply, how relays work, testing basic things like open and short circuits, testing switches and power supplies etc.

[intelarms]

Anything dealing with security from a higher level has to consider physical security as well as cyber security. If you protect your server from the internet but allow physical access to the server, you lose. Therefore pen testing (Penetration Testing) is part of most security efforts. The CISSP certification addresses some of these issues. Most corporations are looking for a total package solution, not a piecemeal approach. This is how I got involved in Lock Picking 101 myself.

[LockLogic]

Thanks for these answers, just the kind of stuff I was looking for. Much appreciated!

[BbGenesis]

Funny, I got back into lockpicking because of IT related stuff me and my friend are doing at the moment. We've each got our own servers built up and are currently going through the Cisco certs. We were pen-testing his network the other day for fun, and were talking about DefCon and then I remembered Toool and here I am again haha. A+ is given out like candy on halloween, some entry level jobs require it but most places assume you have it or you at least have something better. Network+ is good to have, Security+ is harder than I was expecting (I felt like I jumped in way over my head there.) I'm currently working through CCNA and it's not too bad, most of the stuff has ended up being stuff I at least already grasped the general concept of. My cousin worked for the govt. though as an "ethical hacker" so she hooked me up with all her old books from school so I've also got the current material for the MCSE, a book set on ethical hacking and countermeasures, and a set on computer hacking forensics investigation. I have yet to break any of those open yet, just trying to get through CCNA. Also though I have known C++ for about twelve years recently it seems like more people are using JAVA (yuck.)

[BbGenesis]

Sorry for the double post, I looked everywhere for the edit button but didn't see one. Forgot to add to learn some scripting. I'm the default "computer guy" at work (though I don't get paid for that) and it's saved me some time instead of having to so it all by hand.

[johnb007]

I got my 1st CCNA back in 2000 and have had great jobs ever since. I never sit out of work and the Network Security stuff really meshes well with networking. If you do make the jump into Network Security it is assumed that you are knowledgeable in hacking, lock picking, hot-wiring cars, tattoos and fixing your family computers

Funny, I got back into lockpicking because of IT related stuff me and my friend are doing at the moment. We've each got our own servers built up and are currently going through the Cisco certs. We were pen-testing his network the other day for fun, and were talking about DefCon and then I remembered Toool and here I am again haha. A+ is given out like candy on halloween, some entry level jobs require it but most places assume you have it or you at least have something better. Network+ is good to have, Security+ is harder than I was expecting (I felt like I jumped in way over my head there.) I'm currently working through CCNA and it's not too bad, most of the stuff has ended up being stuff I at least already grasped the general concept of. My cousin worked for the govt. though as an "ethical hacker" so she hooked me up with all her old books from school so I've also got the current material for the MCSE, a book set on ethical hacking and countermeasures, and a set on computer hacking forensics investigation. I have yet to break any of those open yet, just trying to get through CCNA. Also though I have known C++ for about twelve years recently it seems like more people are using JAVA (yuck.)

[johnb007]

I forgot to mention, that many people will assume that you know Linux/Unix...which many of us do.

[jeffmoss26]

I am one of many IT people in the locksport hobby. Somehow it just goes together...the fascination with how things work, curiosity, problem solving, etc.
We had four new people at our locksport meeting Saturday, two of them were also in the IT field.

[Achyfellow]

I got my 1st CCNA back in 2000 and have had great jobs ever since. I never sit out of work and the Network Security stuff really meshes well with networking. If you do make the jump into Network Security it is assumed that you are knowledgeable in hacking, lock picking, hot-wiring cars, tattoos and fixing your family computers

Funny, I got back into lockpicking because of IT related stuff me and my friend are doing at the moment. We've each got our own servers built up and are currently going through the Cisco certs. We were pen-testing his network the other day for fun, and were talking about DefCon and then I remembered Toool and here I am again haha. A+ is given out like candy on halloween, some entry level jobs require it but most places assume you have it or you at least have something better. Network+ is good to have, Security+ is harder than I was expecting (I felt like I jumped in way over my head there.) I'm currently working through CCNA and it's not too bad, most of the stuff has ended up being stuff I at least already grasped the general concept of. My cousin worked for the govt. though as an "ethical hacker" so she hooked me up with all her old books from school so I've also got the current material for the MCSE, a book set on ethical hacking and countermeasures, and a set on computer hacking forensics investigation. I have yet to break any of those open yet, just trying to get through CCNA. Also though I have known C++ for about twelve years recently it seems like more people are using JAVA (yuck.)

I've always been curious about cisco certifications, it fascinates me how a privately managed title can get you so many jobs...

I want to take one of those certifications after getting the C2 cambridge exam ( paper is expensive...), any recommendation? I'm not interested in one area only (preferences are network managing, datacenter administration - work and security), is there any general networking title for starters?

[BbGenesis]

The Cisco stuff is basically a career path all it's own. Here's the levels for their certs.

[LockLogic]

Wow, great information in this thread. I've been doing some research on these certs. The Certificed Ethical Hacker certification looks like a decent stopgap to the CISSP five year experience requirement. People in the IT field often say experience goes further than certifications alone. (And I had a feeling that scripting might come in handy for locksmithing).

Pen testing looks really intriguing.

Would anyone care to say about how long it would take to get a workable skill set from A+, Net+ and Sec+ (& Linux/Unix) through CEH? I realize the learning is never-ending. I just want to know what I may accomplish reasonably this year.

[BbGenesis]

Depends on how much you wanna work on it, how much time to devote to it, and how you're learning it. I'm self studying and my friend is taking the course at a local junior college. He can use their lab to help him out on stuff where as I have to either run simulations or build my own test rig. But I actually was a lot farther along than him till I realized that between the joke of a job I'm working at now and my gas/rent/electric I'm not going to have the money to take the test as long as I'm there.

I don't know how much you know about computers so I guess that could play a part in how quickly you grasp the material. Yes some of the material I actually had quite a difficult time with (and still am on some things) but I will say having some type of technical background with computers ahead of time makes it a lot easier. You may give A+ a try, there's a guy on youtube named Professor Messer who has his own website with study videos that are really good. Also the proprofs website has a pretty good study guide on there and practice tests. A+ is super easy basic stuff and shouldn't take too much time to run through. Some companies just require A+ to get a job then will actually pay for you to take the other certs as you learn. I know gamestop does that for their tech dept.

As to how that helps with lockpicking I'm not really sure, I feel like I don't know enough to comment on most topics so I'm mainly a lurker but IT stuff I'm more familiar with so I thought I'd at least try and share something useful.