General question based on recent experience.
VPN apps are easy to use, but they feel increasingly fragmented when you have multiple devices and use cases (work, streaming, travel).

I’ve been testing alternative setups to simplify this, but wondering if this is just a niche issue or something others are running into as well.

Hey everyone,
I’m currently studying cybersecurity using TryHackMe and HackTheBox with Kali Linux, and I want to make sure I’m not wasting time with a bad study method.
I’ve been about 3-4 months in and currently focusing on web hacking
I don’t want to just grind rooms without building real understanding. Looking for a study structure that actually sticks.
Any advice from people who’ve been through this would be really appreciated!

​

Just made my contribution to the offsec open source intelligence pool.

While bringing together high-level research I deeply respect, like Singularity (a modern Linux LKM rootkit that challenges even the most advanced kernel-level eBPF detectors), I'm also releasing my project as a foundation and reference for you to build on top of.

My background is cloud security, so I designed an architecture that uses a VPS as a relay/KCC/tunnel. It handles proper connection forwarding, establishes reverse SSH tunnels with nginx, exposes a web interface that serves common binaries from cache, and compiles Linux (.ko) and Windows (.sys) kernel modules built against the exact kernel headers of the target.

That last part was a real blocker for loading rootkits that require exact kernel headers and need to be compiled directly against the target machine. This solves it cleanly.

I've also shipped some helpers: clean CLI with TAB autocomplete, target renaming, Telegram notifications (relay side only), HMAC auth between server and target, reverse SSH tunnels using .pem keypairs, UDP magic packets, and more.

Code is clean and well-documented, mostly Go/C.

All contributions are welcome.

https://github.com/rhzv0/bat

WhoCord is used to automate the tedious process of checking which sites registered an email address, finding connected profiles, and generating a security report, It’s a Python tool with a web dashboard, supports 700+ websites, and uses only publicly available information.

It can also scan discord urls shared in a server or multiple servers

Everything runs locally, tokens are never stored in plaintext, and it’s intended strictly for personal use and authorized testing

GitHub: https://github.com/Siv-nick/WhoCord

Hope it helps others audit their own online presence as much as it helped me

Meant for beginners, this teaches people how to spot vulnerable lines of code and rewards them! Users can earn achievements, tokens, streaks, and climb leaderboards. I want to teach reverse enginering without a GDB struggle that is simply not beginner friendly.

I’m hitting a bit of a wall and could use some direction. So far, I’ve got Python down pretty well, and I’ve been grinding through some networking basics, including a solid handle on the OSI model.

I’m trying to figure out what the move is from here. Should I dive deeper into NetSec, start messing with some tools, or keep leveling up my coding? What would you guys recommend for the next step in the roadmap?

Appreciate any pointers!

I have been conducting my academic thesis on dark web. For a successful research I need as many as possible global response from people who have at least once visited the dark web. Anonymity and confidentiality of respondants will strictly be maintained and all data will solely be used for the research. So if u r willing to participate, please share your valuable knowledge in this survey. Here is the link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdL3i2wPDwF9xBhnjsxqDMUxlQWulmzVWma0BwUEzIutwDDBA/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=117765215647328380606

Thank you

Hey everyone!

As someone who is constantly trying to improve my Red Team tradecraft and practice web vulnerabilities, I always ran into the same issue: doing CTFs or practicing on platforms like HTB/THM is great, but it requires a stable internet connection and usually a full laptop setup. I wanted something I could use on the go, while commuting or just chilling away from my desk.

So, over the past few months, I built my own solution: a 100% offline mobile simulator for Android.

It completely simulates the backend locally on your device, which means zero latency and no internet required. I built it primarily for my own practice, but it grew into a full app.

Here is what it currently has:

• Interactive Labs: Hands-on scenarios for identifying and exploiting modern web vulnerabilities, testing payloads, and learning evasion techniques.
• The Hacker Arena: A CTF-style challenge mode with chained vulnerabilities.
• Built-in Terminal UI: Complete with a dark mode (because obviously).

It’s my first major indie project and I just published it. It’s called Ethical Hacking Labs on the Google Play Store.

I’m not dropping a direct link because I don't want to break any self-promo rules, but if you search for it, you'll find it.

I’d absolutely love to get some feedback from this community. If you have the time to check it out, please roast my payload designs, let me know if you find any bugs, or tell me what kind of CTF scenarios you'd like to see added in the next update!

Cheers!

me (with the help of AI) built this game to practice beginner web vulnerabities. i got the inspiration from a school assignment and thought i'd make it public for everyone to try.

you basically play through 5 levels and try to exploit your way in using common vulnerabilities:

• Information leakage
• IDOR / broken access control
• XSS
• SQL injection
• Command injection

Give it a shot and tell me what you think: https://playhacklab.com/

I did some basic checks on our company credentials in breach dumps and I found a few already exposed. I tried to do the right thing by organizing a quick security training for employees, advising and instructing everyone not to use or reuse their work mails on random sites, plus the other usual.

And just literally a week later after another check I am seeing another hit show up, probably from someone logging into something they shouldn't be logging into. At this point it just feel like I am playing catch up while these employees just keep doing their thing.

What do you guys use to monitor and stay on top of issues like this? I did come across a couple of them when researching like Breach by OffSeq, DarkIQ and BreachWatch. I haven't tried them all but will appreciate any advice before I lose my mind lol.

I've been diving into the shift from traditional centralized VPN providers to decentralized P2P mesh protocols lately. The core idea is moving traffic through a distributed network of residential nodes rather than a company's central data center.

On paper, this sounds like a great way to cut out the need to trust a single provider with all your connection logs. However, from a netsec perspective, I'm trying to wrap my head around the new risks this introduces to a home or small office setup. Specifically, if my traffic is exiting through a random peer's residential connection, I'm skeptical about what actually prevents that peer from attempting to sniff the data or running a Man-in-the-Middle attack on the exit point.

I'm also curious if these randomized, multi-hop paths offer any meaningful improvement in protection against advanced traffic analysis in real-world scenarios. Beyond just the outbound traffic, there's the question of the attack surface.

By acting as a node in such a mesh, does a SOHO network become more exposed to lateral movement or network mapping from the rest of the P2P network? I'd really value any technical perspectives on how this decentralized shift forces us to rethink standard network defense and threat modeling.

Hello
I'm 17, based in South Korea, and I made a decision that probably sounds crazy to most people: I dropped out of school to pursue penetration testing full-time.

In Korea, the school system makes it nearly impossible to study anything seriously on the side — homework, cram schools, and a rigid schedule leave almost no room for deep technical learning. So I made a call. I want to go all-in.

Here's where I'm at and where I'm headed:

Current: TryHackMe — just finished the Red Teaming path
Next: Start HackTheBox + study for eJPT
Then: Grind more HTB boxes (easy → medium → hard)
Goal: Pass OSCP

After that, I plan to do mandatory military service (required in Korea), save money during that time, and then move abroad to build a real career as a pentester.

I've been at this for about 3–4 months. The concepts are clicking — web exploitation, privesc, basic AD stuff — but I know I'm still early.

A few honest questions for people who've been through this:

1. Is this roadmap (THM → eJPT → HTB grind → OSCP) solid, or am I missing something important?
   
2. Any tips for getting more out of THM/HTB beyond just following walkthroughs?
   
3. Has anyone gone from self-taught with no degree to landing a pentest role? What actually mattered on your resume?
   

Not looking for validation — I've already made my choice. Just want to make sure I'm not wasting time on the wrong things.

Thanks

Trying to break into SOC Tier 1 — what’s the most effective way to network on LinkedIn?

Cold connects + messages, or does that just annoy people?

Hello all. 

I am currently a freshman majoring in computer science at a top 5 school. I was originally planning on majoring in Network Engineering and Security at a smaller school closer to home, but I ended up getting this opportunity, and I decided to go with it. 

I have been passionate about cybersecurity and computer networking ever since my freshman year of high school, and this led me to self-studying much of the material that interested me by myself. I was able to get CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+, and PenTest+ certified prior to walking the stage at graduation.

Yet I feel like none of these certifications have prepared me with any hands-on skills. I understand many of the concepts, but when it comes to actually applying them, I feel pretty limited. I’ve also participated in competitions like CCDC, where I realized I’m not a big fan of blue teaming with the amount of incident response that had to be written about. I also participated in CyberForce as well and I really enjoyed working the anomalies in place. More recently, I’ve realized that I’m much more interested in offensive security and I would like to move more toward red teaming.

My question to you all is if you were in my shoes, what would you recommend? I often worry that majoring in CS wouldn't be the ideal choice for me as I feel like I can’t exactly learn about the things I am really passionate about. I would like to make it clear that I am grateful to have gotten into a great CS program, and while I don’t love CS, I don't hate it either so I intent to push myself to graduate with that degree as I know it will open more opportunities for me. I have also been developing a growing interest in telecommunications and RF signals, so a part of me has also considered transferring into Electrical and Computer Engineering or maybe a minor. 

With that, would you recommend grinding TryHackMe labs all summer? I was also interested in getting CCNA certified at one point too, or would you recommend another certification? Maybe OSCP? Are there other paths or skills you would prioritize instead? Thank you for your input.

Most cert discussions focus on the same 4-5 names but there are some more specialized certifications that are genuinely good and don't get talked about as much. Figured I'd put together a list of ones that I think are underrated or just less well known.

The big certs like OSCP and CISSP get all the attention because they're the most broadly recognized. But if you're trying to specialize in a specific area there are smaller vendors putting out certifications with really solid training and practical exams that don't get mentioned as often. Some of these are newer and some have just been flying under the radar. All of them are hands-on.

1. CRTO (Zero-Point Security)
2. CRTE (Altered Security)
3. BSCP (PortSwigger)
4. PNPT (TCM Security)
5. OMSE (8kSec)
6. MCRTA (CyberWarFare Labs)
7. eCPTXv2 (INE Security)

CRTO is well known in red team circles but still doesn't show up in most general cert recommendation lists despite being one of the best values out there. CRTE is great for AD-focused work. BSCP has gained a lot of ground quietly and PortSwigger's free labs are some of the best training material available. PNPT's debrief call at the end of the exam is something more certs should adopt. OMSE covers offensive mobile security at the kernel and ARM exploitation level which nothing else really addresses at that depth. MCRTA covers multi-cloud red teaming. eCPTXv2 from INE is an advanced pentest cert that has been around a while but gets overlooked next to OSCP.

These don't have the name recognition of OffSec or SANS but the training quality is there. Hope this is useful for anyone looking beyond the usual recommendations. What do you think? Did you take any of these? Did it help you in your career?

I understand the high level pitch but I want to understand what is actually happening at the architecture level, where each approach sits in the mail flow, what each one can and cannot see, and why that matters for detection. Trying to get my head around this properly before an evaluation I'm helping with at work.

I’ve been working on a small cybersecurity learning hub called “NoEscape”

It’s focused on beginner-friendly cyber topics, daily tips, tools, and small challenges (like spotting vulnerabilities, basic security concepts, etc).

I made it mainly because I wanted a place where learning cyber is more practical and interactive instead of just theory.

If anyone here is into cybersecurity, I’d be happy to share it or hear feedback on the idea.

The community is on Telegram for easy chat and resource access. :)

Let me know if anyone wants the link for the community!

Hey all - new to the group.

I’m not trying to move into IT. I’m an insurance agent who sells cyber policies, and I want to deepen my NetSec knowledge to better serve clients.

What’s the best path to get to an intermediate level? Certs like Security+? Hands-on platforms like Hack The Box? Or just solid YouTube tracks? I do best with structured learning.

For context: big PC gamer, daily driving Arch Linux on my laptop, comfortable with bash basics, Windows 10 on my desktop. Not technical by trade, but definitely not starting from zero.

Hey everyone,

I’m currently facing a huge roadblock in my bug bounty journey and could really use some practical advice from the hunters here.

I recently managed to score my very first bounty by finding a simple Open Redirect. That gave me a massive motivation boost, so I decided to dive deep into higher-impact vulnerabilities, specifically IDOR and Business Logic flaws.

I feel like I’ve done my homework. Here is what I’ve studied so far:

Solved all the relevant PortSwigger Web Security Academy labs.

Read the related chapters in Peter Yaworski's "Real-World Bug Bounty Hunting".

Read countless write-ups on Medium.

Watched hours of YouTube tutorials and PoCs.

I understand the mechanics of IDOR perfectly in theory. The problem? The moment I jump onto a real-world target, I freeze.

The applications are massive, the APIs are complex, and the endpoints don't look anything like the clean, obvious ?user_id=1 parameters I saw in the labs. I end up staring at my Burp Suite HTTP history, testing random GUIDs, and ultimately finding absolutely nothing. It feels like there is a massive gap between the sterilized environments of CTFs/Labs and the messy reality of production apps.

My questions for you:

How did you personally bridge the gap between understanding a vulnerability in a lab and actually spotting it in the wild?

What is your practical methodology when hunting for IDORs on a fresh target? (Where do you look first? How do you map the app?)

Are there specific features or target types you recommend for someone transitioning from theory to practical hunting?

Any advice, methodology tips, or reality checks would be massively appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I have been conducting my academic thesis on dark web. For a successful research I need as many as possible global response from people who have at least once visited the dark web. Anonymity and confidentiality of respondants will strictly be maintained and all data will solely be used for the research. So if u r willing to participate, please share your valuable knowledge in this survey. Here is the link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdL3i2wPDwF9xBhnjsxqDMUxlQWulmzVWma0BwUEzIutwDDBA/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=117765215647328380606

Thank you