Regarding my previous year in information security - part 2

As i did last year i would like to recap some things that happened in my life, during my journey in information security.

Switching full-time

When the last year recap post dropped, i was in the mid of my internship at Doyensec. While i was wondering what to do next, Luca and John offered me a full-time contract. That was a bit unexpected to be honest. I was happy that they liked me, but i was a bit scared of joining full time. My main concern was the fact that maybe i wasn’t ready to take such a challenge. Working strictly with clients, having more responsibilities, managing more stuff than an internship was something that scared me. I thought a bit about it. Then i’ve said to me: "Yeah let's do it." After all this was something that should have happened if i continued my journey in information security. Again, i’ve took it as a challenge.

After a while i’ve discovered that my fears were completely wrong. I felt really comfortable by talking with clients, and by having more stuffs to manage.

Don’t get me wrong. Working full time is not easy. It takes a lot of your time during the day. After a full working day, the majority of the time you want to just relax. That was one thing that no one told me before (though i think it’s pretty straightforward as concept). At the beginning it was a real struggle to work an entire day and then switch to something else related to security during the night. I’ve learned that it takes discipline to do so, as well as a strong will. Moreover during the weekend it was hard to play CTF constantly, but i’ve tried my best to stay on track and to improve more and more.

Again, don’t get me wrong. This process of “forcing” myself into learning more during the night/weekends was not immediate. It took a bit of time and lots of wasted days.

In this mess of me trying to stay focused after working the entire day, it was the time for playing Lake Finals. This would have been my very first finals played outside Italy.

Struggling with Insomnihack CTF

Lake Finals

That week was unbelivable, not only for the CTF. Several things happened one on top of the other and i was super busy. So far was one of my favourite week in the entire year.

Let me start from the beginning. My first stop was Bologna where i’ve met zi0black after several months. Meeting a friend is always fantastic and there is always something to cheers. Even if there is no real reason to cheers for something, i was sure that we would have cheered for some minor reason until late at night. I was correct. I remember that night as one of the longest pre-dinner aperitif that i’ve ever done.  zi0black was not the only reason why i was in Bologna. From there i would have gone to a thesis defense of a really close friend. I would have met with a couple of other close friend to party and so on. 

So after the everlasted apertif of the day before, i took a train early in the morning for a couple of days of partying non stop. Then, the 1th of May i would have took a train at 5 am to come back home to help my parents with their work. I was completely destroyed at that time, but it was time (finally) for Lake Finals. From my hometown it took 12 hours straight by train to reach Lausanne, and while it was an amazing journey among the entire Switzerland, it was exausthing.

Lake Finals badge

When i arrived in Lausanne it was already dark. So i quickly reached the hotel where (my beloved) Fibonhack team was and i’ve chilled with them. The day after the finals started. As my first outside of Italy finals (and second onsite) it was amazing. While our overall performance bring us to the 9th place, it was so fun to play among skilled hackers in a terrific place as EPFL. Definitely an experience that i want to redo in the future.

Lake Finals overlapped with the infamouse Balelec event. The ticket was sponsored by the Lake Finals organizers.

Balelec

Summer

The entire summer was not that interesting in comparison. Nothing cool happened, i was just stuck in my hometown working and helping my parents with their work. I was mainly playing CTFs during the night, but sometimes i was so tired that was impossible to concentrate.  On top of that, it was hot. That type of hot that drains you all the energy that you could have.

This summer was so boring that i’ve decided that on September i should have tried to stay away from my hometown for an entire month. Continuos travelling, sleeping at friends houses whether on a bed, on a sofa or on the floor. I didn’t care. I felt like i needed it, and i’ve planned my 1 month travel carefully. Then september came.

The cruise and the journey

This september was something that my old me wouldn’t be able to handle. Travelling a lot, sleeping of sofas, stay up until late and catch trains early in the morning. All of this was something that scared me when i was a teenager, but know is something that i cannot live without. 

This september gave me a lot of adrenaline rushes, and it was fantastic. Let’s start from the beginning. My travel began with a 3 days trip in Bologna to meet one of my oldest date friend. From Bologna i’ve travelled straight to Rome to meet all the Doyensec crew. We spent a night all together before catching the cruise. It was something beyond my mind. I’ve never been to a cruise, but the mixture of meeting new friends, spending 7 days by the sea and visiting new places literally thrilled me. The cruise was an amazing experience, and also being with cool people was the cherry on top. 

The absolute state of my luggage the afternoon before my 1-month journey

The fun didn’t ended here. Right after the cruise there was another big thing happening: MOCA Camp. As fibonhack team we were involved into the organization of the CTF. While, due to my shitty summer, i wasn’t able to bring any challs to the finals, i’ve contributed for the quals. So, me and @drw0if right after the cruise performed a coast-to-coast travel across Italy in order to reach Pescara. I let you imagine the fun of taking a Bus from Civitavecchia to Viterbo, and of course the thrill of not catching a bus (which we were really close to make it happen). 

Fortunately for us @lorenzcat was there in Viterbo to catch us up. And that’s the story of how (a part of) fibonhack travelled to Pescara. MOCA camp was amazing. While we got unlucky with the weather, it was a fantastic camp. Lots of good talks, nice folks and of course a shittons of beers. 

It was fun hanging with the BunkyoWesterns and talking about CTFs for hours. Last but no least, it was the very first time that i’ve met @frevadiscor89 in person. It was fantastic talking with him and playing CTFs together. Looking forward to do it more

MOCA Camp

From Pescara to Milan then towards Pinerolo down to Parma back to Pisa and straight to Rome. I’ve done a lot of small trips, just to meet old friends and creating memories. Overall was a fantastic month, with sleepless days and everlasting travels, i want to redo it all over again.

What remains

I have not much else to say regarding the previous year. I’ve played some CTFs onsite like Snake Finals, and travelled mainly for friends degrees and such.

I wish you all an Happy New Year.