CyberLab
Documentation.

Purpose

A controlled cybersecurity laboratory for experimentation, adversary simulation, network isolation, and hands-on security research. The documentation explains the project boundary, architecture, setup flow, operational model, security considerations, and known limitations.

Installation

Start from a clean, supported environment. Obtain the project source, verify the revision and inputs, and follow the project-specific bootstrap procedure. Do not execute unknown artifacts before inspecting them.

$ inspect source
$ verify revision and inputs
$ apply the documented setup
$ validate the resulting state

Architecture

CyberLab separates experiments into explicit trust zones so offensive activity, defensive tooling, and observation can be changed independently. The lab is designed to make experiments repeatable rather than dependent on a single workstation state.

Configuration

Configuration should be explicit and version-controlled wherever practical. Keep environment-specific secrets, credentials, and private operational values outside the public configuration. The goal is a small, reviewable set of inputs.

Security model

CyberLab is a research project, not a blanket security guarantee. Establish trust boundaries, minimize exposed interfaces, isolate untrusted inputs, and verify the resulting state. Use synthetic or authorized targets only.

Operational constraints

• Use synthetic or authorized targets only.
• Keep management access outside experimental networks.
• Snapshot or rebuild disposable systems between experiments.
• Treat captured artifacts as potentially hostile data.

Operations

Use the documented workflow to create, inspect, reset, and reproduce the environment. Record versions, configuration changes, test inputs, and relevant observations so another operator can understand the result.

Troubleshooting

When something fails, first verify the environment, versions, inputs, and network boundaries. Reduce the problem to the smallest reproducible case, capture logs, and compare against a known-good configuration.

First checks

• Confirm the documented version and environment.
• Check logs and system state before changing multiple variables.
• Reproduce from a clean state where possible.