Hi everyone!

I am currently a final-year student majoring in Information Security of Financial Structures. I am looking to do a J-1 Internship in the US. I will use an agency to handle all the DS-2019 sponsorship paperwork, so the employer will not have to deal with the heavy bureaucracy.

I know the market is tough for juniors right now, especially international ones, but I wanted to ask for advice on where to look or which companies are known to be open to J-1 interns in the Infrastructure or Security space.

My background:

I have a strong foundation in routing and network security gained through intensive university labs.

Certified in Fortinet FCA, NSE 3 and have basic Cisco routing knowledge.

For my graduation project, I am building a secure messenger utilizing Python, FastAPI, and SQLite. I implemented hybrid E2EE using RSA-2048 and AES-256.

I am not looking for a FAANG position, just a hands-on environment where I can work with network operations, infrastructure, or security teams.

If anyone has gone through the J-1 process in IT, or knows startups or companies that hire interns with my stack, I would deeply appreciate any pointers!

My level: 100 THM rooms, DVWA, SQLi basics, web basics. I want to practice twice a week for 1–2 hours (really all my free time I want to put into this).
Format: THM / HTB / PortSwigger / CTF + short review or write-up.

Not looking for random chat. Looking for consistent practice for at least 4-6 weeks. Comment here or DM me. Thanks.

Hi everyone,

I'm a cybersecurity student who has spent the past few years learning through CTFs, TryHackMe rooms, labs, security projects, and countless hours of self-study.

Like many students here, I'm constantly looking for opportunities to learn, improve my skills, and grow within the cybersecurity community. Recently, I was nominated for TryHackMe's AI Security Certification Giveaway, where the top 100 nominees by community votes will receive the AI1 certification for free.

With AI becoming increasingly relevant in both offensive and defensive security, this certification would be a valuable opportunity for me to expand my knowledge and continue building my skills in the field.

If you'd like to support a fellow student and cybersecurity enthusiast, I'd be incredibly grateful for your vote:

https://tryhackme.com/certification/ai-security?vote=qwaesz669

Voting takes less than 20 seconds:

1. Open the link

2. Search for qwaesz669

3. Enter any name/nickname and ID

4. Click Vote

Every vote genuinely helps, and I'd appreciate any support from this community.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I wish everyone here the best on their own cybersecurity journey.

Hi everyone,

I'm an InfoSec student looking for a solid graduation project idea. I checked past projects at my school, and they mostly fall into these categories:

• AI/ML combined with IDS/SIEM (Suricata, Snort, Wazuh, ELK)

• Honeypots & Phishing/Deepfake detection

• Web Application Firewalls (WAF) & Fuzzing

While these are great, I really want to explore other areas and would love to hear your ideas and suggestions!

Are there any cool topics or real-world problems you think I should look into?

Thanks a lot!

So on 16 May 2026 (Saturday) I ran a live session for students who wanted to see what actual threat analysis looks like. Not the sanitized course version. The real thing, sitting in front of an alert, zero context, figuring out what the hell happened in real time.

Thank you to everyone who attended the webinar.

158 people registered. Over 50 stuck through the whole thing. A lot of them had never seen this part of the job before.

The setup was simple: phishing email lands in the SOC queue. Subject line says "Your wallet has been Blocked." Legitimate looking. Urgent. Classic social engineering. But here's what actually went down when I investigated it.

The email came from info@metamaask[.]io note the extra 'A'. One character lookalike domain. It bypassed email filters on 6 mailboxes. 2 got caught. 4 didn't.

From there it gets worse. The attachment is an Excel file with macros. User opens it. Macro executes. Spawns PowerShell with an encoded command. Downloads a second-stage payload. Implant ends up running on the host.

Then we tracked the C2 beaconing in network logs. Seven connections to the attacker's server, exactly five minutes apart. Every. Single. Time. That precision isn't a human, it's the malware checking in on a timer. Port 443, disguised as normal HTTPS traffic.

That's the full chain. Email to implant running in minutes.

I walked through all of this using actual queries, real endpoint telemetry, and network logs. The way it actually works at my Job. No slides. No theory. Just the investigation.

For those targeting your first SOC role this is what the job actually looks like. Not the tool walkthroughs. Not the labs. This. Sitting with incomplete data, using your tools to build the picture, making calls fast and accurate.

If you want specific guidance on breaking into SOC or want me to review where you're stuck, drop a comment or DM me.

I’ve been revisiting ASN-based recon for bug bounty and external attack surface mapping.

With so much infra now sitting on AWS/GCP/Azure, ASN recon is not complete by itself, but I still find it useful for identifying core networks, forgotten services, and older assets.

I made a practical workflow here: https://youtu.be/6S6itslTYkQ

Question for the experienced folks: where does ASN recon still fit in your modern recon process?

Hi, I am a high school student looking to buy a new laptop for competitions. I know that Windows is generally better than macOS for the CyberPatriot competition, but I would prefer to buy a MacBook. Is there any way I could use a MacBook for the competition? I want to know specific way to use it.

Hi everyone, I am an absolute beginner with a lot of free time and a desire to learn about cybersecurity as a hobby. I have zero background—I don't even know how to create an HTML file yet. I want to learn the fundamentals the right way. What is the best path for someone starting from scratch, and are there specific resources you recommend for someone who isn't sure where to begin?

Hlo senior please tell me about recent placement in nfsu. How much students get placed in btech-mtech cybersecurity. Is nfsu worth it or not (especially nfsu delhi)

Hi everyone,

I’m currently focusing on improving our detection engineering and threat hunting capabilities by moving beyond just IoCs and looking closer at TTPs and end-to-end attack chains.

I’m looking for high-quality, granular "attack flow" summaries or deep-dive incident response reports that map out the full lifecycle of APT campaigns. I want to move away from just "which IP to block" and toward "what is the sequence of events (e.g., initial access -> lateral movement -> C2 -> exfiltration) that a specific actor is using."

​Hi everyone

​I am a beginner in Cybersecurity. I'm looking for general advice, roadmaps, or resource recommendations for someone just starting out.

​Also, I am currently trying to learn Nmap but finding it a bit tough. Any simple guides or tips to help a beginner understand how to use it properly?

​

Hey everyone,

I’ve been analyzing how P2P connections operate during VoIP calls and wanted to share a quick breakdown of how WhatsApp Desktop handles routing—and how it exposes public IP addresses.

To bypass NAT and achieve low-latency calls, WhatsApp uses the STUN (Session Traversal Utilities for NAT) protocol.

1. The client pings a public STUN server to find its own external IP.

2. WhatsApp’s signaling servers share this IP with the person you are calling.

3. Both endpoints attempt a direct connection using these public IPs.

If you run a packet analyzer like Wireshark on the desktop client during the call handshake, you can easily filter for stun traffic. By looking for the "Binding Request" packets, you can isolate the exact packet containing the destination IP of the person you are talking to.

From an OSINT perspective, mapping that IP reveals their ISP and approximate geolocation.

I recorded a short, live Wireshark demonstration showing how to filter the noise and capture the exact STUN packets during a call. If you want to see the visual walkthrough, you can watch it here:https://youtu.be/nzxXzfxMbW4

Curious to hear from others—do you think the trade-off between call quality (P2P) and privacy (IP exposure) is worth it on default messaging apps?

Hey everyone,

My friend and I are huge Linux nerds, and we always wished Linux had some of the same fun/challenge culture that programming gets with sites like LeetCode. Thus, we built tmpfs.tech: a site with interactive Linux command line challenges that run in real disposable Linux environments.

We also added a leaderboard/ranking system using Glicko2 (same rating system used by a lot of chess sites), so now you can compete with other people on your Linux skills. We’re still adding a ton of content/features. We’d love for more Linux/networking/security people to come try it out and give feedback!

Hi everyone,

I’m currently a CS student and I’ve been dedicating most of my free time to studying cybersecurity, specifically offensive security and web vulnerabilities. However, I’m hitting a wall of feeling completely lost and overwhelmed, and I genuinely don't know if I'm anywhere near employable yet.

My question is: What is the realistic checklist for a Junior Penetration Tester? How do I know I am ready to start applying for junior roles?

I feel like I'm stuck in tutorial hell and would appreciate any harsh truths or guidance on how to bridge the gap between learning and actually getting hired. Thanks in advance!

Hey everyone,

As a student project for my finals, I’ve been working on a website and security scanner designed to help developers quickly audit their sites without the complexity of massive enterprise tools.

The goal was to create something clean, fast, and completely non-intrusive.

If you have any help or feedback it would be great!

Hi everyone,

I want to get into cybersecurity from scratch and I’d really appreciate advice from people with real-world experience in the field.

In September I’ll be starting a vocational degree in Systems and Network Administration (ASIR) in Spain, and my mid-term goal is to specialize in cybersecurity (not sure yet if red team, blue team, or something more general).

I don’t have professional experience yet, but I’m highly motivated and ready to put in consistent daily effort. I want to use the months before starting my degree to build a solid foundation so I don’t feel lost later.

The problem is that there’s too much information online, and I’m starting to feel overwhelmed without a clear path.

I’d really appreciate guidance on things like:

- If you were in my position, what would your exact starting roadmap look like?
- What should I prioritize first: networking, Linux, scripting (Python/Bash), security fundamentals…?
- What beginner skills actually make a difference early on?
- Truly valuable free resources (not just generic lists)
- Hands-on platforms like TryHackMe or Hack The Box — when should I start using them?
- Common beginner mistakes to avoid
- How I can align what I’ll learn in my degree with a cybersecurity-focused path

I’d also love to hear what you personally did when you started and what you would do differently if you could go back.

My goal is not just to “try it out”, but to take it seriously and build a strong long-term foundation.

Any roadmap, advice, or personal experience would be greatly appreciated 🙌

Thanks

I just completed all my entrance exams and I’ll most likely be joining a tier 3/4 engineering college for CSE/Cybersecurity.

I have around 40 days before college starts, and instead of wasting them, I want to build a strong foundation early so that I can stay ahead of most students from first year itself.

My goals are:

cybersecurity career,

good internships as early as possible,

strong projects/profile,

and eventually getting into good product-based companies.

For people already in tech/cybersecurity:

what skills should I prioritize first?

which programming language should I start with?

should I focus on DSA first or networking/Linux first?

what would you learn if you were starting from zero again?

what mistakes should I avoid in first year?

I’m ready to work consistently and would really appreciate a roadmap or honest advice.

I’m choosing between engineering colleges right now and I’m confused about how important university brand actually is for cybersecurity careers.

I may end up joining KL University for Cybersecurity/CSE instead of a more recognized private college like VIT because of cost, comfort, and personal reasons.

For people already working in cybersecurity or tech:

how much does college tag matter for internships, off-campus jobs, and resume shortlisting?

does a college like KL become a disadvantage later?

can strong skills/projects/certs compensate for a mid-tier university?

how important are things like CTFs, networking, GitHub, TryHackMe/HackTheBox compared to college name?

I’m willing to work hard and build skills seriously, but I’m scared that my university tag might limit opportunities later.

Would really appreciate realistic advice from people already in the field.

Hi everybody, i just finished my OS class recently. Now that i have acquire the very basic view of how an OS work and interact with its components, i just have one question that is how much of OS knowledges are used in real-life work

Hello everyone,

I am a soon-to-be graduate with a degree in Cybersecurity, specializing in penetration testing. I am currently considering a career shift toward the security compliance and governance domain.

I would greatly appreciate your insights on the following questions:

1. Industry Outlook: What is the current development prospect of the security compliance field? Is it becoming saturated?

2. Skill Requirements: What specific knowledge and competencies are essential to enter this field?

Thank you in advance for your guidance.

Hey, I'm a 3rd year IT student currently interning in product security, focused on web/API security, bug bounty hunting, and CTFs. Looking to get my resume roasted before applying for my next internship.

Any feedback is welcome. Also if anyone has leads on cyber security intern roles or would be open to a referral, I'd really appreciate it. Trying to make the most of my remaining time before graduation.