Labs
Cyber Security Labs
Hands-on security practice and hardening exercises.
- 11 notes
- 98 minutes of reading
- Lab: building a safe, isolated virtual security labBuild an isolated virtual lab for security practice with VirtualBox: an internal-only network, attacker and target VMs, snapshots, and checks that nothing can reach your real network. 9 min · Beginner
- Lab: capturing and reading traffic with WiresharkCapture your own traffic with Wireshark and tshark, use capture and display filters, and follow ARP, DNS, the TCP handshake and a TLS Client Hello in a real capture. 9 min · Beginner
- Lab: inventory your own lab network with NmapUse Nmap to discover hosts, list open ports and identify services on your own isolated lab, save the results and compare scans over time to spot changes. 8 min · Beginner
- Lab: hardening a Windows workstationHarden a Windows 11 virtual machine step by step: updates, accounts, Microsoft Defender, firewall, BitLocker, removing SMBv1, password and lockout policy, and auditing. 9 min · Intermediate
- Lab: hardening a Linux server (SSH, firewall, updates)Harden an Ubuntu Server virtual machine: automatic security updates, a sudo user, key-only SSH with root login disabled, a UFW firewall and removal of unused services. 9 min · Intermediate
- Lab: testing password policies and MFA in your labSet and test a modern password policy on Linux and Windows lab machines, then add time-based one-time password MFA to SSH and confirm that each control really works. 9 min · Intermediate
- Lab: analysing a suspicious email safely (headers and links)Analyse a suspicious email without risk: export the raw message, read the headers and SPF, DKIM and DMARC results, extract and defang links, hash attachments and write a short verdict. 9 min · Intermediate
- Lab: Linux log analysis for failed loginsGenerate failed SSH logins against your own Linux VM, then find, count and summarise them with journalctl, grep, awk, lastb and simple pipelines. 8 min · Beginner
- Lab: a home SIEM with WazuhInstall the open-source Wazuh platform in a VM, enrol Linux and Windows agents, and produce real alerts from failed logins and file changes in your own lab. 9 min · Intermediate
- Lab: vulnerability scanning your lab with OpenVAS/GreenboneInstall the Greenbone Community Edition (OpenVAS) scanner on Kali Linux, scan a deliberately vulnerable VM on an isolated network, and turn the findings into a short prioritised report. 9 min · Intermediate
- Playbook: hardening a new access switchA practical security checklist for any new managed switch, with an example Cisco IOS configuration. 10 min · Intermediate