To get the most out of this book

To get the most out of this book, it’s recommended to have a solid foundation in networking, such as understanding common network and application protocols of the TCP/IP, IP addressing, routing and switching concepts, and the roles and functions of networking devices and security appliances. Knowledge of virtualization technologies such as hypervisors and their components will be beneficial as most labs are built within a virtualized environment to reduce the need to purchase additional systems.

All labs and exercises were built on a system running Windows 11 Home as the host operating system, a multicore processor with virtualization enabled, 16 GB of RAM, and 400 GB of free storage for the virtual machines. Oracle VM VirtualBox was the preferred choice when choosing a hypervisor as it provides great virtual networking capabilities and it’s free, however, VMware Workstation Pro was also used to set up the threat detection system at the end of the book.

If you are using the digital version of this book, we advise you to type the code yourself or access the code from the book’s GitHub repository (a link is available in the next section). Doing so will help you avoid any potential errors related to the copying and pasting of code.

After completing this book, equipped with your imagination and newfound skills, attempt to create additional lab scenarios and even extend your lab environment with additional virtual machines to further improve your skillset. This will help you with continuous learning while developing your skills as an aspiring ethical hacker.