Applied Cryptography and PKI: Encryption, Signatures and Key Management
1. Introduction Applied cryptography and PKI is the discipline behind almost everything we take for granted on a connected system: the encryption of an HTTPS session, the signature of a document, mutual authentication between services and the chain of trust that makes your browser trust a certificate issued by a public CA. Yet textbook theory collides with day-to-day reality: keys that have not been rotated in years, expired certificates taking production services down, and signatures validated poorly because nobody checked the hash algorithm. In this article I cover applied cryptography and PKI from the practitioner’s point of view: the cryptographic …
Zero Trust Architecture: Enterprise Implementation Guide
1. Introduction Zero Trust architecture has moved from analyst hype to the security model demanded by regulators, cyber-insurance carriers and advanced technical audits alike. The classic perimeter model —a firewall at the network edge and implicit trust inside— no longer holds against remote work, hybrid cloud and ransomware campaigns that shift the entry point from the VPN to email, a weakly-protected SaaS or a compromised personal device. This guide takes a hands-on approach: what Zero Trust architecture really is, its pillars, how to roll it out in phases with a realistic roadmap, what identity policies you need from day one …
Lateral Movement and Persistence: The Decisive Red Team Phase
1. Introduction Lateral movement and persistence Red Team operations mark the difference between a contained incident and a total breach: this is the phase where the adversary abandons the initial foothold, moves across the network with stolen credentials, and secures a second entry even if discovered. In any professional engagement, lateral movement and persistence Red Team planning decide whether the exercise becomes a real demonstration of risk or a simple intrusion drill. This article covers that decisive phase with a hands-on approach: movement techniques with psexec, WMI, and Pass-the-Hash, persistence mechanisms that survive reboots, pivot tunnels with chisel and SSH, …
Manual SQL Injection: Advanced Data Exfiltration Techniques
1. Introduction Manual SQL injection remains, more than two decades after the first public exploits, the technique that compromises the most databases in real-world assessments. Unlike automated scanners, manual SQL injection lets you understand exactly what happens inside each query, adapt the payload to the precise database engine, and exfiltrate data with a surgical precision that no generic tool achieves. In this article we will build a local lab with MySQL and PHP to walk through manual SQL injection end to end: detection, error-based injection, UNION-based extraction, blind boolean and time-based variants, and a responsible final pass with sqlmap automation. …
Active Directory Security: Attacks and Defense from Scratch
1. Introduction Active Directory security has become the central challenge of corporate cybersecurity, and it is not a coincidence: Active Directory concentrates the credentials, policies, and access control of the entire organization. When an adversary or a Red Team compromises a domain, they gain de facto control of the company. That is why this article approaches Active Directory security from scratch with a hands-on focus: mapping the terrain with BloodHound, stealing credentials through Kerberoasting and AS-REP Roasting, escalating with Pass-the-Hash and DCSync, and rolling out the controls that make Active Directory security defensible and auditable. When you finish, you will …
SIEM Implementation with Wazuh: From Deployment to Detection
1. Introduction SIEM implementation with Wazuh has become the natural entry point for any team that wants to move from scattered monitoring to a functional Security Operations Center (SOC). Wazuh combines in a single open source platform event correlation, host-based intrusion detection (HIDS), file integrity monitoring and active response, all with zero license cost and a reasonable learning curve. In this article we perform a complete lab of SIEM implementation with Wazuh on an Ubuntu Server 22.04 environment, starting from scratch: we deploy the full stack with Docker Compose, integrate Windows and Linux agents, define custom rules and automate the …
Memory Forensics with Volatility: Complete Hands-on Guide
1. Introduction Memory forensics with Volatility has become the reference technique for reconstructing security incidents when the attacker has managed to conceal their tracks on disk. Volatile memory holds information that no filesystem preserves: running processes, active network connections, malware fragments loaded in RAM and, very often, cleartext credentials. This article is a complete hands-on guide in which we carry out a real lab of memory forensics with Volatility on an image from a compromised Windows 7 SP1 x64 machine, infected through a Metasploit payload. During the lab we profile the memory dump, identify an injected process, extract NTLM hashes …
Phishing Simulation with Gophish: Realistic Campaigns Step by Step
1. Introduction Phishing simulation with Gophish is one of the most effective tools for turning the human link of an organization into a measurable layer of defense, and Gophish is, without question, the most widely used open source platform for it. Every campaign launched with Gophish returns objective, quantifiable data: how many employees opened the email, how many clicked the link and how many went as far as entering their credentials on the capture page. Thanks to that data, the awareness program stops being an annual lecture and becomes a continuous improvement process. In this article we carry out a …
Ransomware Defense: Recovery Strategies and Backup Automation
1. Introduction In 2026, ransomware has evolved: it no longer just encrypts files, but also exfiltrates data (double extortion), deletes backup snapshots, infects cloud backups, and attacks entire supply chains. According to Mandiant M-Trends 2026 and IBM X-Force reports, the average recovery time has dropped to less than 48 hours for well-prepared organizations, but exceeds two weeks for those without automation. In this article we will explore ransomware defense strategies focused on fast recovery and backup automation. We will build a complete lab with Docker Compose where we simulate an attack, execute automated recovery, and verify data integrity. 2. Ransomware …
Cloud Security: Docker Misconfigurations & Exploitation Lab
1. Introduction Docker has revolutionized how we deploy applications: lightweight, reproducible, and scalable containers. But just as a poorly configured server can be compromised, a Docker container with security vulnerabilities can expose the entire underlying infrastructure. In 2026, according to cybersecurity trend reports (Fortinet, IBM X-Force), misconfigurations in containers and orchestrators are one of the leading sources of breaches. In this article we will explore the most common Docker vulnerabilities, with a hands-on lab where we build a vulnerable container and exploit it from inside and outside. We will learn to detect and fix each configuration flaw. 2. Why are …
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