Home Lab: Enterprise Network

Home Lab: Enterprise Network

Overview

This project is a fully simulated enterprise network built in my home lab using VirtualBox. It includes multiple virtual machines simulating real-world business infrastructure such as Active Directory, email services, Windows/Linux clients, and security monitoring tools like Security Onion and Wazuh.

The environment was designed to practice:

• System administration
• Network segmentation
• Red/blue team operations
• Security monitoring and incident response
• Vulnerability assessment and hardening

Objectives

• Simulate a small-to-medium-sized enterprise IT infrastructure.
• Practice configuring domain services, email, client systems, and attacker scenarios.
• Perform basic red team (penetration testing) and blue team (detection/monitoring) exercises.
• Prepare for real-world SOC, sysadmin, and cybersecurity analyst roles.

Red Team Activities

• Brute force login attempts using Hydra
• Exploitation of weak credentials via Evil-WinRM
• File enumeration and lateral movement attempts
• And more attacks listed in the project

Blue Team Activities

• Traffic and alert monitoring using Security Onion
• Log analysis using Wazuh and Kibana
• Event correlation from multiple systems
• Practice with incident response

Lab Writeup:

Home Lab: Enterprise Network

What I Learned

• Configuring and managing domain services in Windows Server
• How endpoint misconfigurations can be exploited
• Using network and endpoint detection tools like Security Onion and Wazuh to monitor real threats
• Understanding the attacker mindset and linking behavior to detection logic
• Importance of segmentation, logging, and least privilege in network security