Defensive Cyber Operations: The Blue Team & Network Security

Explore Metasploit interfaces, including the msf console, and learn how to launch exploits, load modules, and enumerate targets. Use resource scripts and basic commands to set up listeners and workflows.

Master passive and active information gathering to map networks, analyze dns and whois data, and perform stealth port scanning with nmap, documenting findings within an authorized, reproducible workflow.

Learn how Metasploit integrates port scanning and vulnerability assessment through auxiliary modules, enabling targeted scans, pivoting, and thorough information gathering to reveal network weaknesses.

Demonstrates a controlled Metasploit-based remote code execution attack against Calibre content server CVE-6782, then shows post-exploitation techniques like system information gathering, keystroke logging, file access, and defense through patching.

Master the fundamentals of the MSF console to interact with the Metasploit framework, exploring commands such as banner, version, help, search, and sessions for ethical hacking.

Learn to configure local and remote variables in the metasploit framework, and use set, set g, get, get g, onset, and onset g to manage them.

Strengthen networks by understanding core network security concepts and building a robust architecture. Explore best practices, threat detection, policy enforcement, and cloud security across IoT and cloud environments.

Strengthen security by hardening systems, disabling default services, and enforcing strong passwords (8+ chars, numbers, capitals, and special characters). Segment networks with firewalls and sd-wan to enable defense in depth.

Identify and mitigate single points of failure, implement controls around vulnerable resources, and continuously monitor for unauthorized devices, while establishing an incident response and cyber resilience program to improve deployments and security architecture.

Understand how network maps visualize the physical and logical relationships between links and nodes, using topology graphs, routers, and routing tables to describe devices and connections in cybersecurity.

Learn the basics of computer networking and network concepts, including nodes, architecture, and protocols, to capture, analyze, and exploit new protocols.

Explore the tcp/ip model of the internet protocol suite, detailing the four layers: link, internet, transport, and application, and core protocols like ip, ipv4/ipv6, tcp, udp, http, smtp, and dns.

Explore how an email application sends and receives messages over a network, using content parsers, a user interface, and standard protocols like smtp, pop3, and imap.

Explains the protocol data unit with header, payload, and footer, and how TCP/UDP headers, IPv4/IPv6 addresses, and MAC addresses shape ports and frames.

Examine how data transfers use the IP data encapsulation model, from the OS network stack creating an IP packet to ARP-assisted ethernet framing and switch-forwarded delivery.

Show how IP routing links two Ethernet networks through routers, using routing tables and ARP to forward IP packets with source and destination addresses.

Explore the role of the network operations center in securing and optimizing networks, including incident management and tiered analyst roles. See how automation, dashboards, and integrations drive resilience and performance.

Assess network security effectiveness by cataloging components, evaluating architecture and configurations, and validating threats through static and dynamic analyses to prioritize remediation.

Identify and mitigate threats by modeling attacker behavior, mapping threats to assets and data flows, and applying frameworks like Stride, Pasta, Trac, Vast, and Octave to prioritize risk and defenses.

Learn to arrange and run Linux commands in combinations using pipes, connecting stdout of one command to the stdin of another, with practical daily examples and six core commands.

Explain that in Linux, a command can be a program, a shell built-in, or a combined command, with simple commands and pipelines using programs like ls, cd, cat, and less.

Master Linux piping by using wc to count lines, words, and characters, and learn how pipes connect commands and data flow through stdin and stdout.

Explore the quirks of the ls command, showing how stdout formatting switches between multi-column and single output when piped, and learn to use -1 and -C to control spacing.

Practice using Linux commands heat, cut, grep, sort, and unique, and learn to pipe and chain them to filter, format, and sort output.

Learn how the bash shell is the default Linux interface, accessible via terminal or graphical terminal emulator. Use basic commands to view files and directories, plus autocompletion and bash manual.

Learn to use the bash man command to access Linux manual pages, navigate with a pager, and read sections like name, description, and synopsis.

Explore how Linux uses a virtual directory that merges all storage into a single hierarchy, using forward slashes and no drive letters, with root and mount points.

Explore the Linux directory structure, identifying root, bin, boot, dev, lib, media, mount, proc, sbin, srv, sys, tmp, users, and var, and learn their roles.

Explore how the shell sits between you and the Linux system, focusing on bash, wildcards, pipes, and redirection. Learn to use variables, quoting, escaping, search path, and saving shell changes.

Explore the ls command to list directory contents and understand its role in ethical hacking and cybersecurity investigations.

Master navigation in the Linux file system by using the cd command, comparing absolute versus relative directory references, and confirming your present working directory with pwd.

Master ls filtering by applying name patterns with wildcards and the ? symbol, using touch to create test files, and printing only matches in Linux environments.

Learn to manage files with basic Linux shell commands, creating empty files with touch, deleting, and copying, overwriting, and updating file times using cp and related options.

Master tab autocomplete in Linux to quickly complete file and directory names at the command line, reducing typos by typing enough characters and pressing tab.

Explore symbolic and hard links in the Linux file system, using ln to create placeholders that point to real files, compare inode numbers, and understand copy and chain pitfalls.

Learn Linux file manipulation with mkdir to create directories, cp to copy, mv to move or rename, and rm with interactive prompts, plus ls for viewing.

Explore how the bash shell uses expansion to transform input with wildcards and pathnames, demonstrated through the echo command and hidden files handling.

Explore shell arithmetic expressions to use the shell as a calculator. Learn integer-only operations, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, modulo, and exponentiation, with nesting and parentheses, using echo and braces.

Learn how brace expansion in the shell generates multiple strings from a pattern, enabling automated folder creation such as year/month directories (2020 to 2025, 01–12) with preambles and postscripts.

Explore shell quoting and parameter expansion to control word splitting, variable substitution, and command substitution. Use double quotes to preserve spaces and safely reference variables and file names.

Learn how Linux enables multi-user access and secures user separation by permissions, using commands like id, chmod, umask, sudo, su, chown, chgrp, and passwd.

Explore how uid and gid govern access in the Unix security model and how the id command reveals IDs and defines accounts in /etc/passwd, /etc/group, and /etc/shadow.

Explore read, write, and execute permissions on files and directories, file modes and ownership, and how regular, directory, symbolic links, and special files define access.

Demonstrate file permissions by showing regular files with owner, group, and world access, illustrate read, write, and execute bits, and explain directory and symbolic link permissions.

Learn how Linux umask determines default file and directory permissions by converting rwx to octal, starting from 666 and 777 and applying 022 to yield 644.

Use the chmod command to set file and directory permissions, using octal or symbolic modes. Learn about user, group, others, and special bits like setuid, setgid, and sticky.

Explore how modern operating systems manage multitasking with kernel-controlled processes in Linux, view and terminate misbehaving programs using top, ps, jobs, bg, fg, kill, and init scripts.

Learn how the ps aux command exposes process states, priorities, and resource use, including running, sleeping, and zombie processes, with columns for user, pid, cpu, mem, and start time.

Explore the top command's continuously updating view of system processes, featuring a system summary and a cpu-ordered process table with metrics like uptime, load average, memory, and swap.

Manage foreground and background processes using the X logo from the X Window System to illustrate spawning, pausing, and resuming jobs with fg, jobs, and ps.

Demonstrates moving a foreground process to the background with ctrl-z, then resumes with fg or bg, and explains launching graphical programs from the command line to reveal startup errors.

Learn how the Linux kill command sends signals to processes, not just terminate them, using signals like interrupt, hang up, terminate, stop, and continue, with hands-on examples.

Explore Linux package management systems and command line tools to install, update, and remove software. Learn how dpkg and rpm underlie Debian-based and Red Hat distributions, including dependencies and repositories.

Explore how Linux package systems distribute software through package files, metadata, and dependencies, and learn how repositories and high- and low-level tools manage installation and dependency resolution.

Master linux package management using apt, dpkg, and rpm to install or remove software, update repositories, upgrade systems, and list and locate installed files.

Explore essential Linux networking commands, including ping, traceroute, ip, netstat, and ssh, to monitor networks, transfer files, and manage remote logins with practical examples.

Use the IPP tool in Linux to inspect network interfaces and the routing table, verify DHCP status, and compare netstat outputs for network configuration.

Explore how Wireshark captures traffic and decodes packets to troubleshoot security issues, analyze applications, and use built-in shortcuts, interface links, and Tshark for command-line packet analysis.

Explore the Wireshark interface, navigation shortcuts, and real-time traffic analysis. Learn to customize columns, apply filters, access keyboard shortcuts, and discover help resources and authors.

Capture and analyze network traffic with Wireshark on Kali Linux, following the four phases: gather, decode, display, and analyze, using promiscuous mode and a pcap capture engine.

Discover how Wireshark decodes raw frames into human readable packets using epan, the packet analyzer engine, with display filters and decode as options to inspect packet lists and details.

Learn packet analysis with Wireshark, decode hundreds of protocols, and troubleshoot networks across LANs and hosts, empowering administrators, security analysts, and students to capture and analyze traffic.

Explore packet analysis and traffic sniffing across routers, switches, and firewalls, examining IP headers, TCP/IP layers, and ACL rules that permit or drop traffic without altering packets.

Learn to start Wireshark with root privileges, select interfaces, and capture traffic; apply capture and display filters, inspect packets line-by-line, and understand dissectors and plugin architecture.

Explore bounded and unbounded signals, copper and fiber media, including coaxial, twisted pair, multimode and single-mode fiber, and wireless options like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and traffic capture with Wireshark.

Learn to use Wireshark display filters to isolate packets in captures or files, apply subnet and address filters, and combine protocol and port criteria (tcp/udp port 80) for focused analysis.

Explore the tcp state machine from listen to established and through fin-wait, time-wait, and closed, and analyze traffic with Wireshark to troubleshoot connections.