Projects: Module 01 — Introduction to Ethical Hacking¶

Projects for this module focus on environment setup, conceptual foundations, and developing the documentation habits that professional security researchers use.

Project 1: Security Lab Setup and Documentation¶

Difficulty: Beginner Estimated Time: 2–4 hours Covers: Lab setup, environment verification, documentation habits

Brief: Set up your complete security practice environment and document it as if you were onboarding a new team member. Write a "Lab Setup Guide" that someone else could follow to reproduce your exact environment.

Milestones: 1. Install and verify Kali Linux (VM, WSL, or native) 2. Start DVWA and confirm access at http://localhost 3. Download Metasploitable 2 from VulnHub and confirm it runs in a host-only network 4. Create accounts on TryHackMe and HackTheBox 5. Write the Lab Setup Guide (500+ words, include screenshots or terminal output)

Acceptance Criteria: - All four environments working and verified - Written guide is reproducible (another person can follow it) - Guide includes safety notes (especially: host-only network for Metasploitable)

Project 2: Security Incident Timeline Research¶

Difficulty: Beginner Estimated Time: 3–5 hours Covers: Historical context, vulnerability research, professional writing

Brief: Research 5 significant security incidents from the Historical Context section of the topic README and create a visual timeline with technical analysis. The output should be educational for a non-technical audience and technically accurate.

Milestones: 1. Choose 5 incidents from the timeline (spanning at least 3 different decades) 2. For each incident: research the technical vulnerability involved, the impact, and the defensive lessons learned 3. Create a timeline document (Markdown) with dates, incident names, technical summaries, and "what we learned" sections 4. Add a conclusion: what patterns do you observe across 60+ years of security incidents?

Acceptance Criteria: - All 5 incidents accurately described - Technical vulnerability type identified for each - "What we learned" section for each incident is substantive (not just "patch your software") - Conclusion synthesizes at least 3 meaningful patterns

[!NOTE] This project is deliberately not about hands-on exploitation — that comes in later modules. Its value is building the historical and contextual understanding that separates deep practitioners from tool operators. Security professionals who understand history can predict vulnerability patterns and make better architectural decisions.