Cyber Mayhem 101

Introduction

This path isn’t just about security - it’s about the dance between chaos and control.
Cyber Mayhem 101 is my deep dive into the world of ethical hacking, digital forensics, and simulated cyber warfare. I explore the weapons and shields of modern cyber conflict - from packet sniffers and rogue scripts to secure erasure tools and social deception. Milk & Eel reappear here as misfit cyber agents, navigating virtual networks, sabotaged files, and corrupted smoothie protocols. Together we uncover how systems break - and how they can be hardened.

Topics Covered

• Week 0: The Bridge from Smooth Cryptics

  Tor, encrypted messaging, darknet markets, OpSec 101

• Week 1: Welcome to the Mayhem

  CIA Triad, threat modeling, attack surface mapping

• Week 2: Malware 101

  Types of malware, virus simulator, static analysis

• Week 3: The Hacker's Toolkit

  Recon tools, Nmap, banner grabbing, simulated exploit

• Week 4: Digital Forensics & Detection

  Log file analysis, tamper detection, file signatures

• Week 5: Network Security & Firewalls

  Sniffing, DNS hijack, firewalls, proxies, MITM

Topics Left

• Week 6: Social Engineering - Phishing, impersonation, metadata obfuscation
• Week 7: Integration & Final Challenge - Simulated attack/defense scenario, career paths

Outcome

To be filled upon completion.
By the end of Cyber Mayhem 101, I will be fluent in the core mechanics of network and system exploitation, comfortable navigating packet captures, virtual labs, DNS hijacks, basic firewall logic, and malware traces.
More importantly, I’ll have sharpened my intuition for how systems can fail—and how to secure them.
These are the seeds of a responsible hacker mindset and a vigilant digital defender.

Project Gallery

Come and take a look at all my projects on Github:

• SHA-256 Integrity Checker

  Checks file hashes to demonstrate tamper detection.

• Virus Lab: Python Virus Simulator

  Safe, toy virus replicates itself in a controlled folder.

• Malware Lab: Self-Deleting Script

  A short Python program that deletes itself after execution, demonstrating post-execution cleanup behavior.

• Static Analysis Lab: Static Malware Scanner

  Uses hash + simple signature scan to flag suspicious files.

• Forensics Lab: Log File Parser

  Analyzes simulated access logs for malicious behavior.

• ASCII Flag Decoder

  Turns obfuscated ASCII values into a readable string, simulating how forensic analysts might recover hidden data or CTF-style flags.

• Packet Lab: Packet Sniffer with Scapy

  Live packet capture using Scapy in a safe VM.

• Login Lab: Vulnerability & Fix

  Demonstrates a broken login flow, an exploit script, and a fixed SHA-256 hashed login system using JSON credentials.

Upcoming Projects

• Port Scanner + Banner Grabber

  Performs basic TCP connect scans and banner grabs.

• Simple Recon Script

  Performs basic information gathering on a target host.

• Hash Validator

  Validates file hashes to confirm file integrity.

• Tamper Alert Simulator

  Simulates system state checks and alerts when unexpected file changes are detected.

• DNS Hijack Simulation

  Redirects domains locally using /etc/hosts for testing.

• Firewall Rules Logic Simulator

  Python script that applies logic to allow/deny fake packets.

• Phishing Email Generator

  Script that crafts a realistic but harmless phishing email.

• Link Obfuscator

  Converts URLs to deceptive or encoded forms.

• Metadata Stripper

  Removes hidden metadata from images and documents.

• File Shredder & Data Destruction

  Secure deletion tool with overwrite and recovery test.

• Secure Erasure Demo

  Demonstrates overwriting sectors in disk images.

• Recovery Analysis Project

  Compares deleted files with recoverable content.

Bonus Topics & Deep Dives

• Reverse engineering malware with Ghidra
• Building a honeypot
• Shellcode & buffer overflows (safe sim)
• WiFi cracking with Kali
• APK decompilation & Android malware
• Zero-day & exploit dev theory
• Metasploit