These labs helped prepare me for the exam while also developing practical and hands on skills that are directly applicable to a career in cybersecurity. The knowledge gained goes beyond theory and reflects real world scenarios used in the industry. Moving forward, I plan to create vlogs demonstrating how I apply these concepts by building and working within my own home lab to showcase what I’ve learned.

Understanding how to deploy and use a sandbox is essential in cybersecurity. Sandboxes allow tasks such as patch testing and configuration changes to be performed in an isolated environment without impacting a live system. This is especially critical in environments where system downtime must be minimized.

In this lab, I used Sandboxie Plus to download software then modify system and file level controls within the sandbox. After verifying the changes, I confirmed that none of them persisted outside the sandboxed environment thus leaving the original system unaffected. This approach is ideal for minimal downtime systems where maintaining availability is a priority. I found this lab particularly valuable, as a strong understanding of sandboxing is essential for many technology roles.

Another lab that particularly interested me focused on encryption, hashing, and obfuscation. These concepts are fundamental to protecting data confidentiality in modern computing environments. In this lab, I learned how to encrypt files on both Windows 11 and Kali Linux systems. On Windows, I used the built in Encrypting File System (EFS) feature by navigating to a file’s properties and selecting “Encrypt contents to secure data.” EFS uses a symmetric File Encryption Key (FEK), which is then protected by encrypting it with the user’s public key.

The lab also introduced obfuscation, which involves transforming code into a format that is difficult for humans to read while remaining functional. Using JavaScript, I passed readable code through an obfuscation generator, producing a highly unreadable version of the script. I then used an obfuscation reader to reverse the process and restore the original JavaScript. This demonstrated how obfuscation can be used to protect proprietary code from casual analysis.

Finally, the lab covered hashing, an essential concept in cybersecurity. Hashing takes an input of any size such as a document, audio file, or video and produces a fixed length, unique output string. In the lab, I created a file and generated its hash, then verified it by comparing the output. Hashing is a one way process, meaning the original data cannot be reconstructed from the hash. Because of this property, hashing is an ideal method for securely storing passwords and verifying data integrity.

The last lab that captured my interest focused on digital signatures. In this lab, I created a pre shared key (PSK) on a Linux system to control access to a file for a remote user. Using the Kali Linux shell, I generated a digital signature that authenticated access to a specific file. When a different remote user attempted to access the file, the contents a text file containing the message “hello there” were only revealed when the correct input was provided.

This lab demonstrated how digital signatures combine hashing and encryption to provide key security properties. Authentication verifies the source of the data, non repudiation ensures the action can be tied back to a specific user, and integrity confirms that the data has not been altered. A core characteristic of hashing is that each unique input produces a unique hash value. If two different inputs were ever to produce the same hash, it would be considered a collision, which is an undesirable weakness in a hashing algorithm.

Other labs I completed focused on configuring system baselines, identifying brute force attacks through log analysis, configuring VPNs, creating virtual machines, developing automation scripts, and performing server hardening on both Linux and Windows systems. I found these labs particularly valuable, as they clearly demonstrated how to apply best practices in real world scenarios and provided a strong foundation for responding to common security challenges. Moving forward, I plan to continue practicing and refining these skills to further strengthen my cybersecurity expertise.

As the ski season nears, I would like to share a picture of me in Grand Teton National Park. Gifted to live in such a beautiful place and to enjoy all the amazing activities of the mountains. I look forward to enjoying the winter and to keep the grind going of learning cybersecurity. In the future I plan to take more certifications, continue learning via hack the box, spinning up my own labs, and staying connected via simply cyber community.