Hello,
I've been interested in about every area of "computers" for a while. I've built a couple and done a good amount of hardware troubleshooting, I've dabbled with codeacademy and basic web design, I'm beginning to work with Ubuntu, I think you get the picture .
I am a 23 year old college student, and I would have loved to study Computer Science, but I don't have a strong math background at all. I am considering switching to a UX major that was implemented just last year, which would at least give me some direction into design and has a couple programming classes as well. A computer science minor is common to pair with that.
On to my question - I like to learn things from the ground up. I really want to learn linux, server "stuff," how the internet really works, how to detect vulnerabilities myself and understanding viruses on a much deeper level, things like that.
How can I get started? I just need some sort of structure to my learning. Book recommendations, codeacademy type sites, any recommendations would be really appreciated.
Something else - I'm just genuinely interested in the security part of computing, but I'm often afraid of dabbling or even searching around because for one, I use university internet, and two, I live in America. Is there a way I can safely educate myself about security without accidentally doing things that are illegal or something?
Thank you!