My First Milestone in Cybersecurity — Completed Cisco's Intro to Cybersecurity Course (93%)

I'm documenting my cybersecurity learning journey here, starting with this first milestone: I just completed Cisco Networking Academy's free "Introduction to Cybersecurity" course, scoring 93% on the final exam.
Why I started
I wanted to get into tech but didn't know which path to pick. Cybersecurity stood out to me, so I decided to commit to it — studying 1.5-2 hours daily, mostly mornings.
Key concepts I learned
CIA Triad — Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability — the foundation of information security
Penetration Testing — the 5-step process: reconnaissance → footprinting → identifying vulnerabilities → exploiting → reporting
Risk Management — identifying threats, assessing severity, and choosing to eliminate/mitigate/transfer/accept risk
Security tools — SIEM (for detecting threats via logs/alerts) and DLP (protecting data in use, in motion, and at rest)
Legal & Ethical issues — understanding that "legal" and "ethical" aren't always the same thing, and why reporting findings honestly matters
Career landscape — exploring job boards like LinkedIn/Indeed to understand what skills employers actually want
[ OPTIONAL — paste your certificate image again here for extra emphasis ]
What's next
Cisco Networking Basics (to strengthen my foundation)
TryHackMe's "Pre Security" path for hands-on practice
Eventually aiming for CompTIA Security+ as my first certification
I'll keep posting updates here as I go deeper into hands-on labs. If anyone else is starting out in cybersecurity, happy to connect and learn together.