Cybermini Articles

Imagine you are the security guard of a massive office building. Every time someone enters, leaves, opens a cabinet, or tries to break in — it gets recorded in a logbook. Now imagine if that logbook could automatically tell you when something suspicious happened. That is exactly what Windows Event Logs are — the logbook of your Windows system, and for a SOC analyst, it is the single most important source of truth. In this blog, we will break down Windows Event Logs from scratch — what they are, how to read them, how to query them like a pro using PowerShell, and most importantly, which Event IDs you must memorize for your SOC analyst interview. Let's dive in. 1. What Are Windows Event Logs? Windows Event Logs are records that Windows automatically creates whenever something significant happens on the system — a user logs in, a service crashes, a file is accessed, an audit policy changes, a script runs. Think...

How I Scored 839/900 on CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 — 2-Month Prep Strategy That Actually Worked Score: 839/900  |  Exam: CompTIA Security+ SY0-701  |  Prep Time: 2 Months  |  Total Questions: 76 (including 3 PBQs) I'm not going to sugarcoat it — CompTIA Security+ is not easy, but it is very passable with the right strategy. I cleared it with an 839 out of 900, and in this post I'll share exactly how I did it, domain by domain, so you can replicate the approach without wasting time. My 2-Month Study Plan Month 1 — Domain-by-domain study: Read, take notes, and build comparison tables and mnemonics for tricky concepts. Month 2 — Heavy practice testing: Full focus on practice tests and PBQ simulations. Time management drills every session. The biggest mistake people make is spending 90% of their time reading and only 10% practicing. I flipped that in month 2 — and it made all the difference. Domain 1 — General Security Concepts What to focu...

Email Security Checklist The Email Security Checklist 1. Enable SPF (Sender Policy Framework) What it is: SPF is like a guest list for your email domain. It tells the world that only specific servers are allowed to send email for your domain. How it works: Publish an SPF record in DNS. When someone receives an email claiming to be from your domain, their mail server checks if the sending IP is listed in the SPF record. If the IP is not listed, the email is rejected or marked as spam. Example SPF record: v=spf1 ip4:203.0.113.0/24 include:_spf.google.com -all Only servers in the specified IP range and Google’s mail servers can send emails for this domain. Others are rejected. Points to Note: Prevents attackers from spoofing your domain and sending phishing or spam emails. 2. Enable DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) What it is: DKIM is a digital signature for each email, ensuring that the message hasn’t been tampered with. Ho...

Kubernetes Basics for DevOps & DevSecOps Kubernetes Basics for DevSecOps 1. Introduction to Kubernetes In the early days of deploying applications, we used to run them directly on physical servers. This approach was inflexible and inefficient — if one application needed more resources, it could starve others. Virtual machines (VMs) improved this by isolating workloads, but they were heavy and took time to provision. Then came containers. Containers are lightweight, portable, and can run anywhere — your laptop, a server in the cloud, or even a Raspberry Pi. But managing containers at scale quickly becomes a nightmare. Imagine you have 500 containers — how do you start them, stop them, update them, and ensure they recover from failures automatically? Enter Kubernetes — an open-source container orchestration platform that automates deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It was originally developed by Google and i...

Docker Basics and Docker Compose Explained Docker Through My Lens Introduction to Docker Docker is a platform designed to create, deploy, and run applications inside containers. Containers bundle an application with all its dependencies, ensuring consistency across different environments. Unlike virtual machines, containers are lightweight and share the host operating system kernel, making them efficient for development, testing, and deployment. Basic Docker Commands To start using Docker, here are some essential commands: docker run [image] – Runs a container from the specified image. docker ps – Lists running containers. docker ps -a – Lists all containers, including stopped ones. docker stop [container_id] – Stops a running container. docker rm [container_id] – Removes a container. docker images – Lists available Docker images. docker rmi [image_id] – Removes a Docker image. Creating Your First Docker Container You can run ...

Perimeter security isn’t enough—because sometimes the threat is already inside. In this blog post, I’m sharing what I learned from a hands-on TryHackMe lab on GitLab security . It revealed how a simple internal misconfiguration—like open registration or overly permissive repo access—can lead to major data exposure inside an organization. I’ll walk you through the red team perspective on exploiting a misconfigured GitLab instance , and then flip the script to explain how you can secure your own internal build systems . Scenario: Inside the Walls of a Large Organization Think of a large organization—like a bank—with thousands of employees and multiple teams handling development, IT operations, and security. To keep intellectual property (IP) secure, these organizations often host self-managed GitLab instances on their internal network. But here’s where things can go wrong: GitLab is hosted internally Allows anyone on the internal network to register Has some projects...

Advanced Cyber Threat Intelligence 1. Introduction to the Intelligence Lifecycle The course begins by outlining the intelligence lifecycle, a structured approach comprising: Collection: Gathering raw data from various sources. Processing: Organizing and structuring the collected data. Analysis: Interpreting processed data to generate actionable intelligence. Dissemination: Sharing intelligence with relevant stakeholders. This framework ensures a systematic method for developing and leveraging threat intelligence programs. 2. Data Collection Sources Effective threat intelligence begins with robust data collection from both internal and external sources: Internal Sources: Endpoint Logs: Data from devices within the organization. Network Traffic: Information from firewalls, routers, and switches. Security Tools: Outputs from SIEMs, IDS/IPS, and antivirus solutions. External Sources: Private Feeds: Subscript...