Stand up your own pentest lab

hard

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Why this matters

Pentesting skill is acquired by doing — and you can't legally practise on systems you don't own. Stand up a lab: vulnerable VMs (VulnHub, HackTheBox Pwnbox), CTF platforms (CTFd self-hosted), AD lab (BadBlood, GOAD), web-app targets (DVWA, OWASP Juice Shop). The lab is your training ground.

Demo

Minimum lab: VMware/VirtualBox + Kali + 3 vulnerable target VMs from VulnHub + DVWA + a small AD lab (GOAD). Total: ~32GB RAM recommended. Practice on these every week.

Try it yourself

Set up a lab: Kali + 1 vulnerable Linux target (try Mr-Robot on VulnHub).
Compromise the target end-to-end. Document the chain.
Add an AD lab (GOAD on VMs) once Linux feels comfortable.

References

VulnHub
GOAD (Game of Active Directory)