learning-path.md

Learning Path

This project is designed to be learned phase by phase.

Before Phase 2

Study:

• Python file handling
• command-line arguments
• JSON output
• hashing with SHA256
• basic binary file reading

You are ready when you can write a Python script that accepts a file path and prints file size and SHA256.

Before Phase 3

Study:

• raw binary files
• ELF basics
• firmware sections
• memory addresses
• strings extraction

You are ready when you can explain why .bin files are harder to analyze than .elf files.

Before Phase 5

Study:

• HTTP basics
• REST APIs
• FastAPI file uploads
• JSON responses

You are ready when you can create an API route that accepts a file and returns its filename.

Before Phase 7

Study:

• regular expressions
• secret detection patterns
• false positives
• confidence scoring

You are ready when you can write regex patterns for URLs, emails, IP addresses, and token-looking strings.

Before Phase 8

Study:

• YARA rule syntax
• string patterns
• binary patterns
• rule metadata

You are ready when you can write a YARA rule that detects a known debug string.

Before Phase 11

Study:

• file comparison
• diff output
• added vs removed findings
• risk regression

You are ready when you can compare two JSON files and list what changed.