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The Stash
Every link worth keeping, in one place. Steven picks them; Nova Cache sorts, tags and writes the note on each.
One Incident, Five Logs, One Timeline: a PBQ-Style Lab
IntermediateTestedTime ~45 minTool grep, awk, jqNeeds Lab 00 or WSLCost freeExam Security+ 4.9 · CySA+ 1.2 0 / 12 steps The goal One made-up incident, told…
Build your own research collector (free Python lab)
BeginnerTestedTime ~40 minTool Python 3Needs Lab 00 or WSLCost free 0 / 10 steps The goal Build a small Python tool that collects information from sources…
MISP threat intel lab: feeds, IoCs, STIX and the REST API
IntermediateTestedTime ~60 min (mostly waiting)Tool MISPNeeds Lab 00 + Docker, 6 GB RAMCost freeExam CySA+ 1 0 / 12 steps The goal Run MISP, the free…
Find C2 beaconing with Zeek: a hands-on threat hunting lab
IntermediateTestedTime ~40 minTool ZeekNeeds Lab 00Cost freeExam CySA+ 1 0 / 12 steps The goal Build a pretend office laptop and a pretend internet inside your…
YARA rules lab: write, tune and test rules that find files
Beginner–IntermediateTestedTime ~35 minTool YARANeeds Lab 00 or WSLCost freeExam CySA+ 1 0 / 12 steps The goal Install YARA, the pattern-matching tool malware analysts use to…
Vulnerability scanning lab: find, rank and fix with Greenbone (OpenVAS)
IntermediatePartly testedTime ~2 hours (mostly waiting)Tool Greenbone / OpenVASNeeds Lab 00 + DockerCost freeExam Sec+ 4 · also 2 0 / 12 steps The goal Run…
Keycloak single sign-on lab: one login, two apps, one logout
IntermediatePartly testedTime ~45 minTool KeycloakNeeds Lab 00Cost freeExam Sec+ 4 0 / 12 steps The goal Run Keycloak, a free identity provider, on your own machine.…
Suricata IDS lab: write rules, catch a scan, then block it
IntermediateTestedTime ~40 minTool SuricataNeeds Lab 00Cost freeExam Sec+ 4 0 / 10 steps The goal Set up Suricata, a free intrusion detection system, on a tiny…
Install Software Safely: Sources, Hashes, Signatures and Licenses (Tech+)
ExplainerPartly testedLevel beginnerTime ~25 minTool PowerShell, winget, aptCost freeExam Tech+ 3 What you’ll know Where safe software comes from, how to prove a download is the…
Programming Languages Compared: Compiled, Interpreted, Markup and Query (Tech+)
ExplainerPartly testedLevel beginnerTime ~25 minTool Python, gcc, Bash, PowerShell, SQLiteCost freeExam Tech+ 4 What you’ll know The difference between compiled, interpreted, scripting, markup and query languages;…
Lock Down Your Own Devices: Updates, MFA, Encryption and Backups (Tech+)
ExplainerPartly testedLevel beginnerTime ~20 minTool Windows Settings, PowerShellCost freeExam Tech+ 6 What you’ll know The eight habits that protect a computer or phone: updates, antivirus, a…
Pulse Diagnostics — Windows Event Log in plain English
Pulse is a free, open-source (MIT) Windows 10/11 app that turns Event Log entries and blue screens into plain-language explanations, with a crash history, system health…
How One Email Turned My AI Agent Into a Data Exfiltration Tool · Will Grana
from the one-email-is-all-it-takes dept.Will Grana let an AI agent (OpenClaw on Claude Haiku) read his lab inbox and keep a local briefing, with every tool allowed…
Ethical Hacker — free course from Cisco Networking Academy
A free online Ethical Hacker course from Cisco Networking Academy for building offensive security skills: how attackers plan, scan and break in, practised the legal way.…
CISA Offers Two Free Tools to Detect Security Misconfigurations in Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
from the free-config-audit dept.CISA's SCuBA project has two free tools that check cloud settings against its secure configuration baselines. ScubaGear (PowerShell, from the PowerShell Gallery) audits…
NTP and Time Sync Explained: Stratum, Offset and Why Logs Need the Right Time (Network+)
ExplainerLevel beginnerTime ~10 minTool timedatectl, w32tmCost freeExam N+ 3 · also 5 What you’ll know How the Network Time Protocol keeps clocks in step, what stratum,…
Spanning Tree (STP) Explained: Build a Switch Loop and Watch STP Fix It (Network+)
ExplainerLevel beginnerTime ~15 minTool ip, bridge (Linux)Cost freeExam N+ 2 · also 5 What you’ll know Why two cables between switches can take a network down,…
The OSI Model Explained: One Web Request Through All 7 Layers (Network+)
ExplainerLevel beginnerTime ~20 minTool ip, curl, tcpdumpCost freeExam N+ 1 · also 5 What you’ll know The seven OSI layers, what each one does, which devices…
Incident Response Explained: The Six Steps and Evidence Basics (Security+)
ExplainerLevel beginnerTime ~15 minTool PowerShell, bashCost freeExam Sec+ 4 What you’ll know The six phases of incident response in order, what happens in each, how to…
Email Security Explained: SPF, DKIM and DMARC (Security+)
ExplainerLevel beginnerTime ~12 minTool dig, PowerShellCost freeExam Sec+ 4 · also 2 What you’ll know Why anyone can type any “From” address, how SPF, DKIM and…
Risk Management Explained: SLE, ALE, RTO and the Four Responses (Security+)
ExplainerLevel beginnerTime ~15 minTool PythonCost freeExam Sec+ 5 · also 4 What you’ll know How to put a dollar figure on a risk, the four ways…
Cryptography and PKI Explained: Hashing, Encryption and Certificates (Security+)
ExplainerLevel beginnerTime ~20 minTool OpenSSL, PowerShellCost freeExam Sec+ 1 · also 3, 4 What you’ll know The difference between hashing and encryption, symmetric vs asymmetric keys,…
Data and Databases Explained: Tables, SQL and Backups (Tech+)
ExplainerLevel beginnerTime ~15 minTool Python, SQLiteCost freeExam Tech+ 5 What you’ll know Why data is worth protecting, structured vs unstructured data, how a database table works…
Programming Basics Explained: Variables, Loops and Functions (Tech+)
ExplainerLevel beginnerTime ~15 minTool Python, PowerShellCost freeExam Tech+ 4 What you’ll know What variables, data types, branches, loops, functions and objects are; the difference between compiled,…
Operating Systems, Software and File Systems Explained (Tech+)
ExplainerLevel beginnerTime ~12 minTool PowerShell, bashCost freeExam Tech+ 3 What you’ll know What the operating system does for you, how the main ones differ, why a…
Computer Hardware Explained: CPU, RAM, Storage and Ports (Tech+)
ExplainerLevel beginnerTime ~15 minTool PowerShell, bashCost freeExam Tech+ 2 What you’ll know What each main part of a computer does, how to tell a fast drive…
Binary, Hex and Data Sizes Explained (Tech+)
ExplainerLevel beginnerTime ~12 minTool PowerShell, bashCost freeExam Tech+ 1 What you’ll know What a bit and a byte are, how to read binary and hex, why…
Network Security Explained for Network+: Attacks, AAA and Hardening
ExplainerTime ~20 minCost freeExam N+ 4 What you’ll know The ideas behind Network+ Domain 4: the CIA triad, AAA and 802.1X, the attacks the exam names…
High Availability, Disaster Recovery and Network Documentation (Network+)
ExplainerTime ~15 minCost freeExam N+ 3 What you’ll know How to measure availability and recovery, how networks avoid single points of failure, how to back up…
Cloud Networking and SDN Explained (Network+)
ExplainerTime ~15 minCost freeExam N+ 1 · also 2, 4 What you’ll know What the cloud service models mean, how a cloud network (a VPC) is…