Hacking Lab Setup — Ethical Hacking as a Beginner [02]

This is the second blog post of me documenting my journey learning Ethical Hacking from Scratch.

Let’s begin by setting up Hacking Lab on our local machine.

Why a Hacking Lab?

Think of a hacking lab like a science experiment area. It’s a safe, controlled space to practice hacking techniques without messing with real-world systems. We don’t want to be accidentally breaking laws or causing harm!

Let’s Get Building!

Here’s what we’ll need:

1. Virtualization Software

This is the foundation of your lab. It lets you run multiple “virtual machines” (simulated computers) inside your actual computer. Popular options:

• VMware Workstation Player (Free for personal use, Windows/Linux)
• VirtualBox (Totally free, Windows/macOS/Linux)

I am going with VirtualBox.

2. Operating Systems

1. These are like the “brains” of your virtual machines. You’ll need at least two:

• Kali Linux: The hacker’s best friend! It’s packed with tools designed for penetration testing and security work. (And has the coolest logo)
• A “Victim” OS: This could be something like Windows or an older, intentionally vulnerable Linux version. You’ll practice hacking into this.

As the first step, I downloaded the installer images for kali linux from the official site, the victim will be installed at a later point once I am familiar with the basics.

The Setup

1. Grab your tools: Download your chosen virtualization software and the operating system images (usually in “.iso” format). You can find these on the official websites.
2. Install your virtualization software: It’s like installing any other program.
3. Create virtual machines: Your virtualization software will have a guide. You’ll basically tell it how much RAM and hard drive space to give each virtual machine.
   I went with 4gb ram allocation, going with the recommended values for other dependencies.
4. Install the OSes: Load those .iso files, and your virtual machines will have operating systems! (currently one, for kali linux)

Now What?

We’ve built a cyber playground! Now we can start exploring the tools inside Kali Linux and how they’re used. Familiarity with Linux will help us on this path. Try out basic linux commands, get to know the directory structure, and play around with the coolest OS available to mankind.

It’s only going to get more exciting from here!

Let me know in the comments if you have any questions, we’ll solve it together. Happy exploring!