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Security Foundations

beginner14 labs

The common ground every security career stands on: Linux and Windows, networks and the web, passwords and encryption, scripting, one scan seen from both sides, how security works at work, and a hands-on capstone. Builds on the Introduction to Cybersecurity.

Labs in this path

  1. 1
    beginner

    Linux Files and Permissions

    Read the permission string on any Linux file, know who can read, change or run it, and why a wrong permission is a security problem.

    45 min3 tasksfoundations
  2. 2
    beginner

    Linux Users, Groups and Processes

    Who you are on a Linux machine, which groups you belong to, what is running, and why everyone should have only the access they need.

    40 min3 tasksfoundations
  3. 3
    beginner

    Windows Accounts, Groups and Services

    How Windows keeps track of who you are, which accounts are powerful, and the programs that run in the background.

    40 min3 tasksfoundations
  4. 4
    beginner

    Windows Event Logs and Domains

    Windows writes down what happens; learn to read the logon events defenders check every day, and what a domain is.

    45 min3 tasksfoundations
  5. 5
    beginner

    Packets, Ports and Protocols

    How data really travels: packets, the two main delivery styles (TCP and UDP), private address ranges, and the ports you will see everywhere.

    45 min3 tasksfoundations
  6. 6
    beginner

    DNS and HTTP from Both Sides

    Watch one web visit twice: from the client that asks, then from the server that answers and writes it down.

    45 min3 tasksfoundations
  7. 7
    beginner

    How the Web Works: Requests, Cookies and Sessions

    What really happens between your browser and a website: requests, responses, cookies that remember you, sessions that keep you logged in, and why most web bugs start with trusting input.

    50 min3 tasksfoundations
  8. 8
    beginner

    How Passwords Are Stored: Hashing in Plain Words

    Why a well-built website never keeps your actual password, what it keeps instead, and how to tell a strong storage method from a weak one.

    45 min3 tasksfoundations
  9. 9
    beginner

    Encryption and HTTPS in Plain Words

    How encryption keeps secrets secret, the two kinds of keys, and what the padlock and certificate warnings in your browser are really telling you.

    40 min3 tasksfoundations
  10. 10
    beginner

    Scripting Basics: Read and Change a Short Script

    Read a short bash script and a short Python script that count failed logins in a log file, change one value in each, and predict what changes.

    50 min3 tasksfoundations
  11. 11
    beginner

    What a Port Scan Shows

    See one basic port scan of a Purple Edge lab host, read what it found, and decide what each open port means for the people defending that host.

    40 min3 tasksfoundations
  12. 12
    beginner

    Finding the Scan in the Logs

    The same scan from the last lesson, seen by the machine that was scanned: find its traces, match them by time and source, and decide what to do next.

    45 min3 tasksfoundations
  13. 13
    beginner

    Security at Work: Policies, Risk and Incidents

    How organisations run security: the rules they write, how they weigh risk, what happens during an incident, and who does which job.

    45 min3 tasksfoundations
  14. 14
    beginner Hands-on lab

    Capstone: Follow One Incident from Attack to Log

    Deploy a real lab, read what an attacker did to one machine, find every action in the logs, name the account that was taken over, and capture the case flag.

    90 min3 tasksfoundations

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Updated 2026-11-01

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