90-Day Cybersecurity Study Plan
📚 Table of Contents
📘 Introduction
Welcome to the 90 Days of Cybersecurity challenge!
This repository provides a structured, 90-day self-paced study plan designed to help learners build a strong foundation in cybersecurity. Whether you're a beginner looking to break into the field or a professional aiming to sharpen your skills, this roadmap offers a wide range of curated resources, hands-on tasks, and learning materials.
The daily modules cover essential and advanced topics, including:
- Networking fundamentals (Network+)
- Security principles (Security+)
- Linux basics and shell scripting
- Python programming for security tasks
- Traffic analysis and packet inspection
- Version control with Git
- SIEM tools and log analysis using the ELK stack
- Cloud security with GCP, AWS and Azure
- Penetration testing and ethical hacking
- Landing the job: a one-page resume and an AI-assisted job-search pipeline with career-ops
Each day is designed with actionable tasks, tutorials, and reading materials to help you stay on track. For a full list of resources, refer to learn.md.
🎯 Goals and Audience
📌 Goals
The primary goal of this 90-day plan is to help learners:
- Build a solid foundation in core cybersecurity concepts and practices.
- Gain hands-on experience through daily exercises and real-world tools.
- Develop the technical skills necessary for certifications such as CompTIA Network+ and Security+.
- Explore key domains including network security, system hardening, cloud security, scripting, and ethical hacking.
- Cultivate a consistent learning habit over 90 days to support long-term retention and growth.
By the end of this journey, you should feel confident navigating a variety of cybersecurity tools, concepts, and techniques.
👥 Intended Audience
This repository is ideal for:
- Aspiring cybersecurity professionals preparing for entry-level roles or certifications.
- IT professionals transitioning into a security-focused career.
- Students studying computer science, information systems, or network engineering.
- Self-learners seeking a structured and comprehensive study plan.
- Developers and DevOps engineers looking to better understand secure infrastructure and threat detection.
- Anyone curious about how cybersecurity works in real-world environments.
No prior experience is required, though basic familiarity with computers, networks, or programming will be helpful.
🚀 Start Here
New to the plan? Read this first, then jump to Day 1.
- Time budget: aim for 1-2 focused hours a day. The day numbers are a guide, not a deadline; it is fine to spend longer on a topic.
- Follow the order: Days 1-28 (networking, security basics, Linux) are the foundation everything else builds on. Do not skip ahead to hacking.
- Certifications are optional: the Network+ and Security+ playlists teach the concepts you need. You do not have to sit the exams to follow this plan or to get a first job.
- Track your progress: fork this repo (or copy the plan into a notes file) and tick off each day as you finish it.
- Everything is free: if a site puts content behind a paywall, use the alternatives listed in the same section or in
learn.md.
- Questions or study buddies: use GitHub Discussions. Issues are for broken links and content fixes.
- Prefer another language? See Translations.
Day 1-7: Network+
- Watch videos from Professor Messer's N10-009 Playlist
- Complete any related practice questions or exercises.
Day 8-14: Security+
Strongly Recommend Professor Messer's:
Another Alternative You Can Use:
Additional Practice:
- Complete any related practice questions or exercises.
Day 15-28: Linux
Day 29-42: Python
Youtube Course:
Day 43-56: Traffic Analysis
Youtube:
Day 57-63: Git
Day 64-70: ELK
Any one of them works fine.
GCP:
AWS
Azure
Day 78-84: Review and Practice
- Go back through Days 1-77 and review any weak areas.
- Complete hands-on challenges on TryHackMe: https://tryhackme.com
- Set up a home lab using VirtualBox or VMware to practice what you have learned.
- Try building a small project that combines networking, Linux, Python, and security concepts.
Day 85-90: Hacking
Youtube:
Day 91-92: One Page Resume
Day 93-95: Where and How to Apply
Run your job search with career-ops
career-ops is a free, open-source job-search system that runs inside an AI coding CLI such as Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, GitHub Copilot CLI or Antigravity CLI (free tier, no API key needed). Paste a job URL and it scores the posting against your cv.md (1-5), generates an ATS-friendly tailored PDF and tracks every application in one place. It never applies for you; you always review and submit.
Before using any AI CLI, redact sensitive personal data in cv.md (for example address/phone) and review the tool/provider’s privacy and data-retention settings before pasting your resume content.
- Set up (Day 93): install Node.js, skim the setup guide, then run
npx @santifer/career-ops init. Good security habit: npx downloads and runs the latest release, so check the release notes before running it (pin a version with @santifer/career-ops@<version> if you want a reproducible install). Open your AI CLI in the new career-ops folder and follow the onboarding chat. Tell it your target roles (for example SOC analyst, security analyst, junior penetration tester) so the evaluations fit entry-level security jobs.
- Evaluate (Day 94): paste 10-20 postings you found on Indeed or LinkedIn. Only apply to roles that score 4.0/5 or higher; treat it as a filter, not a spray-and-pray tool.
- Apply and prepare (Day 95): generate tailored CVs for your shortlist, apply, and use the interview-prep mode to build your STAR stories before the first call.
Translations
🎉 Contributors
Thank you for being a part of the 90DaysOfCyberSecurity community! We appreciate everyone who helps improve our content.
Contribution Categories:
- Documentation: Improve or add to the study material and guides.
- Tutorials & Guides: Create or enhance tutorials explaining complex concepts.
- Suggested Resources: Recommend useful tools, articles, books, or other resources.
- Ideas / Topics: Suggest new topics to be added to the learning materials.
- Review & Feedback: Provide feedback on existing materials and suggest improvements.
- Community Support: Answer questions and help others in discussions or issues.
- Tests & Quizzes: Add quizzes, challenges, or tests to check learning progress.
- Real-World Applications: Share real-life examples or case studies of cybersecurity practices.
- Mentoring: Help others with study advice, tips, or hosting study sessions.
Thank you to all contributors for your amazing work! 🎉
Contributors ✨
Thanks goes to these wonderful people (emoji key):
This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind welcome!
一个免费的 90 天自学网络安全计划:每天安排任务并精选学习资源，带你从网络基础一路学到 ethical hacking(道德黑客技术)，最后还提供求职方面的帮助。