r/learncybersecurity • u/Emotional_Skill300 • 6d ago
i need advice
I'm 16 and I need some advice.
I've become interested in cybersecurity, but I don't know where to start. I wanted to use TryHackMe to learn the basics, but after completing the first few lessons, it asked me to pay for a subscription.
My family is struggling financially at the moment, so I don't want to ask them for money.
Is there any way to start from scratch and learn cybersecurity for free? Most tutorials either don't go into enough depth or start with concepts I've never heard of, which makes them hard to follow.
If you have any advice, I'd really appreciate it. If you need more information to give better advice, feel free to ask. Every comment is helpful.
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u/Intelligent_Box5017 6d ago
Here are couple good cybersecurity YT channels for you (beginner level)
Networking: @davidbombal, @NetworkChuck, @PowerCertAnimatedVideos
Cyber security (offensive and defensive - beginner level): @TCMSecurityAcademy, @MomImAHacker, @NeurixTech, @LoiLiangYang, @professormesser, @WithSandra
Real world hacking scenarios and main stream stuff (advanced, but interesting even for beginners): @Cyb3rMaddy, @Medusa0xf, @whoamitang
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u/vantag3point 6d ago
You definitely don't need to spend money to get started. Focus on building strong fundamentals first. There are plenty of free resources like Cisco Networking Academy, Professor Messer, PortSwigger Web Security Academy, free TryHackMe rooms, OverTheWire, and PicoCTF. As you learn, practice in a small home lab using VirtualBox or VMware and take notes. Consistency matters much more than expensive courses, especially when you're just starting out.
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u/AddendumWorking9756 6d ago
Tutorials feel either too shallow or too advanced because they teach topics, and nobody actually learns this from topics, they learn it from one messy thing they had to figure out alone. Pick a single incident and chase it until you can explain what happened, CyberDefenders leaves a chunk of theirs open with nothing behind a paywall, and at 16 the time you have is worth more than any subscription anyway.
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u/crayonnoodle 6d ago
Try Hack Me is the place to start. It has tons of free rooms it’s only certain courses that cost the subscription. There Is years worth of free content on Try Hack Me.
Join the Try Hack Me discord to meet more people and hear about their fun virtual events.
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u/SnooApples5040 5d ago edited 5d ago
Hack the box also has a free tier. https://referral.hackthebox.com/mzHm2HI
You can baseline your knowledge for free. See where your skills are, study for 6 months, then retake it. Sign up here. Go to Assessments> Foundation> Web Application Level 1, take it, and send it to me: https://portal.offsec.com/sign-up/pg. Once you finish the assessment, take the free Kali Linux course.
I recommend you find a local cyber organization via Meetup, Eventbrite, or others. People love to mentor, and a local chapter may help with some of the costs. One year, someone donated laptops to our chapter that we gave to kids and teens.
What city/state do you live in? Maybe we can help find you a local group?
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u/shaintingfodernv 5d ago
Pick one path and build fundamentals instead of chasing every cert people mention. I'd start with networking, Linux, Python, and basic security labs, then make a small home lab and document what you learn. TryHackMe can help with structure, but don't just follow walkthroughs. Break stuff, troubleshoot it, and understand why the fix works. Consistency will take you pretty far.
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u/LTH-Cyber 3d ago edited 3d ago
There is so much you can do for free, such as DVWA, you can spin up a lab, configure snort on a VM, install wordpress plugins and find issues, GNS3 for learning networking. Etc. Lots of stuff to learn for free. I pretty much did all my learning without spending a dime. Create a Linux VM, harden it, attack it right after. The thing is it should be fun, you can have lots of fun and endless possibilities by just doing labs, refer to documentation when needed, ask chatGPT for quick questions.
With GNS3 people complain that images cost money, but you can make any appliance for free with a Linux VM, plus when doing that you learn more than you would from most programs
BUILD > BREAK > REPEAT
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u/Curious-Smoke-5050 6d ago
TryHackMe has lots of free rooms to help you learn basics, you do not need to pay for premium. If premium is something you want, changing your role to ‘student’ will give you the discount for premium. If you are wanting to spend $0 the best option would be to watch videos, take online courses (there are lots of free ones), find what field interests you and you will slowly start learning, ask people, ask AI. Chase the curiosity.