networking

SAIL-2025

Solving the Openfire Lab Blue team challenge

As a cybersecurity analyst, you are tasked with investigating a data breach targeting your organization’s Openfire messaging server.
Attackers have exploited a vulnerability in the server, compromising sensitive communications and potentially exposing critical data.

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Solving the ShadowCitadel Lab Blue team challenge 🫆

Today, we dive into a host-based forensics investigation − a curious case of a breach inside the enterprise environment of a company called TechSynergy.
They have detected an anomaly after an employee engaged with an unexpected email attachment. This triggered a series of covert operations within the network, including unusual account activity and system alterations.

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Solving the XLMRat Blue team challenge

Today we’re looking at the XLMRat malware. It is a remote access trojan (hence the RAT part) built to be small, sneaky, and stupidly persistent. It typically rides in via phishing or social engineering, often disguised as something mundane, like a JPG or TXT file. It targets Windows systems and speaks fluent PowerShell. It’s popular […]

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Solving the BlueSky Ransomware Blue team challenge

Today we’re looking at the BlueSky ransomware, a strain of malicious software that encrypts files on a victim’s system, rendering them inaccessible until a ransom is paid. First detected in June 2022, it shares similarities with other notorious ransomware families like Conti and Babuk.  BlueSky spreads through methods such as phishing emails, malicious links, and network […]

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DanaBot obfuscated JS file

Solving the DanaBot Blue team challenge

In this blog post, we’ll walk through a Blue Team lab challenge hosted by CyberDefenders, specifically investigating a breach scenario involving DanaBot malware. The challenge is presented by CyberDefenders (https://cyberdefenders.org) and can be found here: https://cyberdefenders.org/blueteam-ctf-challenges/danabot. Note: This post is not sponsored by or affiliated with CyberDefenders. Initially, I knew very little about DanaBot. Turns out […]

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A convenient homelab SSH jumphost (without the drama)

Managing a homelab is all fun and games until you’re knee-deep in IP addresses, SSH keys, and trying to remember if this server was the one with Kubernetes or the one you broke last Tuesday. SSH-ing into multiple machines gets messy fast – unless you love memorizing IPs and usernames like some sort of 2000s hacker movie […]

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Proxmox firewall layers in simple terms

Proxmox VE is a phenomenal open-source virtualization platform that many of us (myself included) absolutely love. It’s powered by a strong community, and the fact that we can use it for free in our home labs or even in small production environments is a huge blessing. In my early days with Proxmox, I struggled a bit […]

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Solving the WebStrike Blue Team Challenge

The challenge In the intricate world of cybersecurity, every attack leaves behind digital footprints waiting to be deciphered. In this post, we embark on a brief journey to unravel a cyber threat, dissecting each element that reveals an attacker’s origin, tactics, and motives. Let’s dive in. The challenge is presented by CyberDefenders (https://cyberdefenders.org) and can […]

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