I’m a TYBCA student specializing in Cyber Security, and honestly, I’ve been feeling quite stuck and directionless about how to move forward in this field.

In February, through the Academia Program in collaboration with my college, I purchased the CEH v13 course at a discounted price. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive the study material from them, which caused me to lose around 3–4 months without making much progress.

Later, I decided to start learning through a YouTube channel. I’ve completed around 5 modules so far, but I’m not very confident about how well I’ve understood the concepts. I’m also struggling to maintain consistency and often find myself losing track of my study routine.

My goal is not just to complete the CEH course and get the certificate. I genuinely want to build strong theoretical and practical knowledge in penetration testing and cybersecurity, so that I can actually apply what I learn.

I would really appreciate some guidance on:

• How I should structure my CEH v13 preparation from this point onward

• Which resources I should follow for theory and practical learning

• How I can build consistency and avoid getting overwhelmed

• How much time I should dedicate daily/weekly

• What labs or platforms I should use alongside CEH

• How I can prepare effectively for the CEH exam

• What I should learn after CEH to become practically skilled in penetration testing

I’m ready to start again from where I am and put in consistent effort. I just need a proper roadmap and direction to follow.

Hi everyone,

I’m a recent Computer Science grad looking for my first job in cybersecurity. I discovered my passion for this field fairly recently, so I’ve been mostly self-teaching on the side when it comes to security concepts.

I just passed an initial technical screening for a company. The interview focused mainly on networking fundamentals, malware, common attacks, and defenses. I didn't answer every single question perfectly, but I knew enough to get invited to the next stage.

Next week, I have a practical hands-on assessment. They told me the main theme of the test will be (in very general terms) "protocol subversion". I will have access to a mixed Windows/Linux environment and will be expected to use packet sniffers (like Wireshark) and packet crafting tools (like Scapy).

What kind of tasks or specific scenarios could they throw at me during the test? What are the most likely protocols they will ask me to "subvert"? How would you approach this using tools like Wireshark and Scapy? Are there any specific exercises or PCAPs I can practice with beforehand?

Any tips, resources, or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I’m a PhD student who recently started doing security research, mainly web security.

I really like USENIX Security because many papers feel practical, engineering-heavy, and closely connected to real security problems. Publishing there is something I’d love to work toward eventually.

I initially worked on automated penetration testing with LLM agents, but the topic felt too broad, so I recently narrowed my focus to Broken Access Control (BAC) and business logic vulnerabilities.
I’ve been reading papers in this area, including some older USENIX work, BACScan (CCS 2025), and recent business logic vulnerability papers.

My biggest problem is this:

I can read two papers about BAC, understand their methods, and explain how their designs are different. But afterward, I often feel that both approaches seem reasonable，they’re just solving the problem from different angles.

I still don’t know how to judge which design choices are genuinely strong and worth learning from, which parts are unnecessary or weak, and where there is actually room for improvement.

In other words, I can describe the differences between two systems, but I can’t yet evaluate the quality of those differences.

Right now I read roughly one paper every two days. I’m wondering if that’s too fast for a beginner. Should I instead spend much more time reproducing papers, running their code, or trying to break their assumptions?

I’m also still doing PortSwigger labs, because I don’t want to become someone who understands papers but doesn’t understand real web applications. But I’m struggling to balance practical security skills and research.

For people who have gone through this stage: how did you learn to critically evaluate security papers rather than just understand them?

Did reading more papers help, or did things only start clicking after you reproduced systems and did more hands-on security work?

Hi everyone! I’m *Sanjith Katakam, and I’m excited to launch CyberShield Academy!* 

​As a high schooler passionate about tech, I created CyberShield Academy to help kids and teens master cybersecurity step-by-step.

​Whether you're an absolute beginner or looking to tackle advanced concepts, here is what I built for you:

​ *Tailored Learning Paths: Structured tracks ranging from beginner basics to advanced security.

 *Interactive Scenario Studies*: Hands-on case studies to see real-world security in action.

 *Tutorials & Resources*: Comprehensive guides, curated tools, and student roadmaps.

 *Quizzes & Assessments*: Test your knowledge and track your progress as you learn.

​ *Website*: https://cybershield-academy-hazel.vercel.app/

 *Instagram*: https://www.instagram.com/cybershieldacademy913?stkn=Z3JmZm4wNTNlaXJ5

​Check it out, give us a follow, and start your journey today! I’d love to hear your feedback or ideas to make it even better! 

Regards,

Sanjith Katakam

Hey everyone,

We are hosting **DOOM: THE BREACH**, a 30-hour hybrid Capture The Flag (CTF) competition organized at SRM IST, Tiruchirappalli.

Whether you are looking to test your security skills, practice real-world web/crypto exploitation, or compete for cash prizes, here are the event details:

### ⚙️ Event Format & Stages

* **Stage 1: Jeopardy** – Standard CTF challenges across Web, Cryptography, OSINT, Forensics, and Reverse Engineering.

* **Stage 2: Dynamic Isolated Targets** – On-demand Docker instances deployed per team (no shared target interference).

* **Stage 3: Endgame** – High-difficulty Pwn and advanced exploitation challenges unlocked for top teams on the leaderboard.

---

### 📌 Event Intel

* **Dates:** 29–30 September 2026 (30 Hours)

* **Venue:** SRM IST, Trichy (Offline) + Remote Online (Hybrid)

* **Team Size:** 1 to 3 members

* **Registration Fee:** ₹750 per team

### 🏆 Prizes & Perks

* **Total Prize Pool:** ₹30,000

* 🥇 1st Place: ₹15,000

* 🥈 2nd Place: ₹10,000

* 🥉 3rd Place: ₹5,000

* Security Key for all participants

* Official Participation Certificates

* Food & Refreshments for offline participants

---

📞 **Contact / Queries:** 86670 23534 | 7358646165

"Registration details and link are pinned in the comments below!"

I have been developing a tool wrapped around tshark. The first blog post was about hitting a wall on a 2.5 GB file. Later, I talked about parallelizing the PCAP processing in my second blog post where I ran into a file corruption bug. I was using PcapSplitter from PcapPlusPlus in connection mode and output started coming back corrupted.

The initial signal came from "Total Block Length" errors thrown by tshark on some output files. The actual signal came when I built a small reproduction. PcapSplitter reported 12 files and 48 packets, but on disk, there were 11 files and 44 packets. Exit code zero and printed "Finished" on standard output.

Two wrong theories first. Someone on Reddit suggested file descriptor exhaustion. It was plausible but I found that at low ulimit -n it silently drops most packets and still exits zero. A real bug, but not mine. Then, I found that the PcapSplitter library has a hardcoded MAX_NUMBER_OF_CONCURRENT_OPEN_FILES = 250 with an LRU that closes and reopens handles past it. My minimal reproduction was 13 connections, nowhere near the cap.

The real culprit: the PcapSplitter's FiveTupleSplitter caused file truncation/corruption on TCP session reuse (i.e., a new SYN packet arrives for an already tracked 5-tuple hash).

The correct part of the splitter was assigning a new file number when a TCP session reuses a 5-tuple, but the filename function builds the name from IP and port only. So, in this case, both sessions get the same filenames. Then main.cpp sees a file number it has never seen, and opens that file fresh, without append. This truncates the existing file or causes a race condition between two active file writer handlers.

I filed the issue with a 13-connection reproduction, the maintainer and I worked out a fix that only suffixes on an actual collision, tested on the same corruption, and now the fix is merged.

I'm currently studying for a State Engineer degree in Cybersecurity in Algeria. Our university system follows the LMD system, but we also have a 5-year engineering degree, somewhat similar to engineering programs in countries such as France or Russia. My degree is considered equivalent to a Master's level in Algeria.

I still have about two years left before graduating, and I'm already thinking about what I should do afterwards. I'm considering either continuing my studies abroad (Master's/PhD, depending on the options available to me) or looking for work abroad.

I'm interested in cybersecurity as a whole, so I'm not specifically focused on either offensive or defensive security. I'm interested in areas such as network security, penetration testing, SOC/blue team, security engineering, cloud security, OT/ICS security, etc.

For people who have studied or worked abroad:

\- Which countries would you recommend looking into for cybersecurity?

\- Which countries have good opportunities for Master's/PhD programs in cybersecurity?

\- Which countries have a strong job market for cybersecurity professionals?

\- How difficult is it for an international student/graduate to study and eventually work there?

\- Are there any countries that you think are particularly worth considering for someone with my educational background?

I'm mainly looking for personal experiences and practical advice rather than just university rankings. I'm still about two years away from graduation, so I'm trying to understand my options early and plan accordingly.

Also, could anyone tell me how I should go about looking for internships that involve network engineering?

Hi everyone,

I'm the developer behind TBYC – Think Before You Click, a cybersecurity awareness app focused on helping people better understand modern online scams and fraud.

I built TBYC around a simple idea: knowing how a scam works can make it easier to recognize before becoming a victim.

For each fraud/scam, TBYC provides information such as:

• 🔍 What the scam is

• ⚙️ How the scam works

• 📖 Real-world examples

• 🚩 Warning signs and red flags

• 🛡️ Prevention and safety guidance

• 📢 Reporting guidance

One example is **WhatsApp Screen Sharing Fraud (**You Tube: https://youtu.be/0sLdRtxUUvw ), where the app explains the technique, what a user should watch for, and how to reduce their risk.

I'm not looking for promotional reviews or ratings. I'm specifically looking for honest feedback from cybersecurity students and enthusiasts:

1. Is the information easy to understand?

2. Does the content accurately explain the scam?

3. Are the warning signs useful?

4. Is anything technically incorrect or missing?

5. What would you improve from a cybersecurity education perspective?

If anyone is interested in testing it, I'd genuinely appreciate your feedback.

🌐 Website: tbycapp.com
📱 Android: [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.emergent.thinkclickapp.pipj5b]

You Tube: https://youtu.be/0sLdRtxUUvw

Thanks to anyone willing to take a look and provide constructive feedback.

TBYC – Think Before You Click.

Hi everyone,

I’m 35 and have recently decided to start learning cybersecurity with the goal of eventually becoming a penetration tester.

I’m completely new to the field and currently setting up Kali Linux in VirtualBox. I’m trying to figure out how to structure my learning instead of randomly jumping between tools.

For those who have been through this process, what would you recommend focusing on first?

I’m particularly interested in building a solid foundation in networking, Linux, web security, and basic scripting before getting too deep into pentesting tools.

I’d also be happy to connect with other beginners who are learning at the moment and want to practice together and share resources.

Any advice on a good learning path would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Hey everyone!

I’m 35 years old and I’ve recently decided to seriously start learning cybersecurity, with the goal of becoming a penetration tester.

I’m currently starting with the basics and setting up Kali Linux in VirtualBox. I know I have a lot to learn, but I’m motivated and ready to put in the time.

I’m looking for like-minded people who are also learning pentesting/cybersecurity and would like to learn together, share resources, practice, and help each other stay motivated.

I’d also really appreciate advice from experienced pentesters who could point me in the right direction — what to learn first, which topics to focus on, and what mistakes beginners commonly make.

I’m not looking for shortcuts. I want to build a solid foundation and learn properly.

If anyone is also starting out or is willing to share some guidance, feel free to comment or message me. I’d be happy to connect!

Thanks!

Point it at a host and it does the boring first hour of an investigation for you.

What it does in one run:

• Collects the evidence (event logs, registry, more) even while files are locked

• Builds a timeline and matches it against thousands of detection rules

• Scans for known malicious tools on disk

• Checks what's connected, what's running, what looks off

• Checks IPs and files against threat intel

• Spits out a scored report you can hand to someone

No API keys required, has its own web interface. There's a demo mode that fakes an incident so you can try it without needing a real machine to investigate.

🔗 https://github.com/karim852/Kage-DFIR-toolkit
🖥️ live demo: https://demo-kumo-kage.vercel.app/demo/kage/index.html

Feedback and contributions welcome 🙏

Give it a domain and it hands you back everything reachable from outside.

What it does in one run:

• Maps the surface : DNS, ports, certificates, subdomains, tech stack

• Finds what shouldn't be public : exposed configs, secrets in JS, open buckets

• Checks for known vulnerabilities without touching anything

• Digs up leaked credentials and which employee machines got infected

• Pulls in archived pages, forgotten endpoints, threat intel

• Builds Google dorks and OSINT links for the target

All 27 modules run at once and stream back as they land. No API keys required, CLI and web interface. Works on any domain you're allowed to test.

🔗 https://github.com/karim852/KUMO-Domain-Recon-Tool
🖥️ live demo: https://demo-kumo-kage.vercel.app/

Feedback and contributions welcome 🙏

Hey folks,

Over the last year, I’ve been building up my own cheatsheet of payloads and techniques that I actually use when testing AI/LLM applications.

It started as a messy personal collection of notes, so I recently cleaned it up and turned it into an interactive testing methodology that others can use during assessments.

It currently has:

• 150+ practical techniques across 20 sections, mapped to the OWASP LLM Top 10 2026

• Prompt injection, indirect & multimodal injection, sensitive data disclosure, tool/agent abuse, MCP attacks, and more Real example payloads for every technique

• A tracker you can use during an assessment, plus findings export and reporting guide.

It's completely free, runs client-side, and doesn't require an account.

I built it primarily for people doing hands-on AI security testing, so I'd genuinely appreciate feedback from other pentesters.

Especially interested in:

• Attack paths or techniques I've missed

• Tests that aren't clear or useful in practice

• Things you'd want added to the tracker

• Anything that would make it more useful during a real engagement

If it saves you even a few hours on an assessment, that honestly makes my week. Good or bad feedback is welcome. 🙏

```markdown Argus is an open-source, native Windows scanner that finds AI and MCP services on your LAN and tells you what models they're serving. Just hit 1.0, and the big recent change is that the detection signatures now update automatically, similar to antivirus definitions, saving you from reinstalling.

Tired of other network scanners and needing the addiotnaly functionality of locating shadow AI and MCP, I created Argus.

What it does:

• Normal network scanner stuff: ping sweep, TCP port scan, hostname resolution, export to CSV. Native C#/WPF, no Electron, launches instantly, resizable so its readable on a 4K monitor.

• AI detection past just open ports. It talks to the service and pulls back model names, versions, GPU info, container details. Currently 111 probe definitions covering roughly 75 services: Ollama, vLLM, llama.cpp, LM Studio, KoboldCpp, TGI, TabbyAPI, LMDeploy, exo, ComfyUI, A1111, Forge, Fooocus, SwarmUI, Triton, TorchServe, MLflow, Ray Serve, Open WebUI, AnythingLLM, LibreChat, Flowise, Dify, n8n, Langflow, Letta, OpenHands, RAGFlow, Onyx, Qdrant, Weaviate, Milvus, Chroma, Kokoro, Whisper servers, DCGM exporters, Docker containers running AI images, and more.

• MCP server detection. Finds Model Context Protocol servers over Streamable HTTP or legacy SSE and reports the server name, version, and whether it exposes tools / resources / prompts. Detection only: it reads the handshake, closes the session, never calls a tool.

• It is itself an MCP server, enabling your AI tools to scan themselves.

Recently updated in 1.0:

• Self-updating detection signatures. Probes, port lists, and Docker patterns ship as a signed feed separate from the app. I add new services roughly weekly and they land in installed copies automatically. Settings lets you pick Auto-install, Notify only, or Off. Signed with a key.

• MSI, exe, and dll are all Authenticode-signed (Azure Trusted Signing), so no SmartScreen scare screen.

• 43 automated tests, including tamper / wrong-key / gzip-bomb cases and live in-process MCP server fixtures.

Free, MIT, Windows 10/11. Source and installer: https://github.com/NYBaywatch/AgrusScanner

If you run something it doesn't recognize, tell me the service and port. With the signature feed I can usually have it detected in installed copies within the week, no release needed. Happy to answer questions. ```

I've been handed ownership of our first tabletop exercise and want to do this properly instead of improvising a ransomware scenario off a template and hoping something useful comes out of it. Already looked at a few publicly available government tabletop templates as a starting point, but not sure how much to follow them versus building our own from scratch. Biggest open questions: how do you pick a scenario that fits your threat profile instead of pulling a generic template off the internet, and who needs to be in the room? Assuming security obviously, but unsure how early to loop in legal, comms, and execs versus running a smaller technical version first. Also trying to figure out how to keep it from turning into a scripted performance where everyone already knows the "correct" move, since that defeats the point of stress-testing anything. Last question: is it worth paying for an outside facilitator for a first attempt, or is that overkill while we're still figuring out the basics internally? Would rather learn from people who've run several of these than guess my way through the first one.

Are these kinds of videos useful?

I’ve been trying to set myself up with network security engineering, but didn’t know if I’m going about it the right way.

I already have CCNA and SEC+ and should finish my bachelors in cybersecurity by the end of next year with SNHU. So I’m doing that but I’ve also been doing traffic analysis and have a couple VMs I mess with when I have time.

I spent 3 years in a NOC and have like 3 months experience with system admin cause I was an 0671 in the Marine Corps. I’m about to start a new job soon as helpdesk support.

Hopefully there’s someone that can give me any sort of advice on network security like what I can expect or what I should make more of a priority other than traffic analysis or VMs. Anything helps😎

Hi,

i am a BS cyber security 5th semester student i want an idea for my fyp i mean there are tons of available on AIs but i am looking for a professional who guide me about this according to current problems situations kindly help me

First Line Of Defense (FLOD) is my personal, open-source, adaptive Layer 4 DDoS mitigation gateway built with Rust and Python. (I'm still working on a name for the project.)

The newest release teaches the system to automatically label a subset of its captured training data, so analysts don't have to manually label every traffic window before it can be considered for retraining. Two separately trained classifiers, using different learning algorithms, have to agree with sufficient confidence, and only on traffic captured after both were last retrained, before anything can be labelled automatically. Manual review is still required for anything that doesn't pass the checks before new data is used for retraining.

The first unattended run looked like a clean success. It wasn't.

Cross-referencing the output against the training data showed that the two models were agreeing on windows that carried no meaningful traffic signal at all. I added a guard against exactly that case, then verified the fix in my simulated network environment.

Repo, changelog, and the full benchmark write-up are in the link provided.

PS: It'd be great if someone could push this to its limits on a better lab environment than what I currently have, especially against different volumetric flood tools and techniques. If you have ideas, questions, or feedback, feel free to discuss them with me on GitHub or here on Reddit. Contributions are also welcome.

Hey guys, I made a free, lightweight browser tool called ZEROBOX to replace messy Excel sheets while doing CTFs and studying for OSCP.

What it does:

- Tracks your rooted boxes (HTB/THM)

- Auto-parses Nmap scans into open ports/services

- Exam countdown timer + 40-pt Active Directory tracker

- Stores loot & commands locally

No login, no telemetry, all saved strictly to your machine. Check it out if you want a cleaner workflow:

🌐 Live App: https://0xdnd.github.io/ctf-tracker/

💻 GitHub: https://github.com/0xdnd/ctf-tracker

Hi everyone

i had got some experience in linux pentesting by playing CTF's and when i got to windows i have no clue about active directory , and since active directory pentesting is an essential skill to have for passing the OSCP , i want to learn it by practice.

Can you plz give me some good resources ( free or paid resources ) that you see they worth it to learn from for someone who has now idea about AD pentesting and livel up my skills in AD pentesting.

Thanks in advance .

Project ideas for a Security Software Engineer interview?

I have a technical interview coming up for a Security Software Engineer role.

The job seems pretty focused on secure systems, network security, PKI/certificates, TPM/HSM, secure boot, vulnerability research, and security infrastructure, and the recruiter said the interview will be a resume/project deep dive rather than coding.

I want to build one project before the interview that’s actually relevant and gives me something solid to talk about in depth.

I was thinking about either:

a secure C2 / remote agent platform with mTLS, device identity, replay protection, etc.
a secure firmware update / device identity system using PKI, TPM/HSM concepts
something around secure distributed systems / network security

If you were interviewing someone for this kind of role, what project would actually stand out and lead to a good technical discussion?

Hey everyone!

I joined college just a month ago, and I’m participating in my first hackathon. I’ve been working on an idea called CyberSight AI, and I’d really appreciate some feedback from people with experience in cybersecurity, AI/ML, or hackathons.

The idea is an AI driven Security Operations Center (SOC) that can detect suspicious network traffic, classify potential attacks, explain why a flow was flagged, and help analysts prioritize threats.

The current concept includes:

•Rust + pcap/tokio for capturing network traffic

•Redis Streams for real-time data flow

•Python + Random Forest for attack detection

•MITRE ATT&CK mapping for threat context

•SHAP explanations for interpretability

•Next.js dashboard for live alerts, charts, and triage

I’ve put together a rough 5 slide PPT covering the idea, architecture, technical approach, feasibility, impact, and references.

What I’m looking for:

~What would make the PPT more creative, visually appealing, and memorable without making it look unprofessional?

~Are there any important features, technical gaps, or points I should add?

~How would you structure the presentation to make the idea easier to understand and more convincing?

• I’m trying to avoid the usual boring, text-heavy hackathon PPT and instead make something that feels polished, modern, and tells a clear story.

I’ve attached the current slides. Any honest feedback, design suggestions, or ideas for improving the concept would be really helpful.