In this project, I will document the process of creating a Cybersecurity Lab at home. The goal is to establish an environment protected from potential attacks or exploits that an external malicious user might try to take advantage of. I will be building this from scratch and will make sure to document every single step, as I believe this will help me reflect better when I want to update or change something.
This is not a tutorial or guide, just a documentation of my work and progress, the way I approach it.
I want to mention that you don’t have to follow every step exactly as I did. I’ll be documenting everything, including some details that may not be strictly necessary.
The documentation for the entire project can be found here, at the bottom in the Summary or in the documentation folder at the top of the page. Additionally, if you would like to read through and understand my troubleshooting processes, you can find them in the troubleshooting folder at the top of the page as well.
Note
It is possible that my documentation and project may contain some mistakes or errors. Therefore, some prior knowledge of the topic is necessary to ensure clarity and avoid confusion.
Before starting, I created a prototype of the network plan using Draw.io. The goal was to visualize my ideas and ensure that everything could be connected logically. I didn’t focus much on design, as I wanted to confirm the plan’s feasibility before refining its appearance.
These are some of the points I wanted to include in my Cybersecurity Lab:
- Containers
- Testing environment
- Firewall and monitoring tools
- Private network
- VLANs
- Kali Linux
- Proxmox
Throughout this project, I will be adding to and adjusting my documentation as needed. For now, here are the essential components you'll need:
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Proxmox | Proxmox is a virtualization platform that lets you run and manage multiple VMs and containers on a single physical server. I chose Proxmox because of its flexibility and ease of use, but there are alternatives like VMware ESXi or VirtualBox depending on your needs. |
| OPNsense | A firewall is used to control inbound and outbound traffic, as well as various other settings such as VLAN configurations etc. I chose OPNsense, but you could also use pfSense or any other firewall that suits your needs. |
| Ubuntu Server | I chose Ubuntu Server because I’m familiar with it and wanted to use it to host my containers. |
| Kali Linux | Kali Linux is a powerful penetration testing operating system, equipped with numerous pre-installed tools that are highly useful for my project. |
| Ubuntu Desktop | I chose Ubuntu Desktop for testing purposes, but any other operating system would work just as well. |
| Windows | I chose Windows for testing purposes, but any other operating system would work just as well. |
A summary of the entire project's contents:
- Troubleshooting 1.1 - Proxmox / Laptop issue
- Troubleshooting 1.2 - Linux Bridge missing
- Troubleshooting 1.3 - WireGuard-VPN issue
- YouTube: Gerard O'Brien, Building the Ultimate Cybersecurity Lab
- Medium: TheInfoSec Guy
- ChatGPT: OpenAI
- Friends