This presentation gives the details of 13 cloud-based online cybersecurity lab environments. They are free or freemium resources to improve your hands-on cybersecurity skills. They are all suitable for beginners; they have solutions, step-by-step instructions, and documentation; some comes with a discord channel and others with support lines.

1. Free or Freemium Cybersecurity
Labs for Improving Hands-on Skills
Bilge Karabacak
October, 2022

2. CyberChef (Free)
• Suitable for:
• SOC Analyst
• Ethical Hacker
• Notes:
• Hundreds of utilities:
Encryption, decryption,
hashing, conversion,
encoding, decoding,
parsing, etc.
https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef
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3. NICE Challenges (Free)
https://nice-challenge.com
• Suitable for:
• SOC Analyst
• Notes:
• Your instructor send an
invite code
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4. BlueYard (Free)
• Suitable for:
• SOC Analyst
• Notes:
• You should download
files (VM images,
packet captures, etc.)
and submit your
response on the
website.
https://cyberdefenders.org/blueteam-ctf-challenges
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5. Blue Team Labs (Freemium)
• Suitable for:
• SOC Analyst
https://blueteamlabs.online
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6. Immersive Labs (Free)
https://community.immersivelabs.online/register
• Suitable for:
• SOC Analyst, mostly
• Ethical Hacker
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7. picoCTF (Free)
• Suitable for:
• Ethical Hacker, mostly
• SOC Analyst
• Notes:
• Designed for high schools
• Includes basics, digital
forensics and
cryptographic challenges
https://picoctf.org
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8. OverTheWire (Free)
• Suitable for:
• Ethical Hacker
• Notes:
• Many challenges to
practice Linux commands
• Use an SSH client to
connect to the challenges
https://overthewire.org/wargames/
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9. TryHackMe (Freemium)
• Suitable for:
• Ethical Hacker
https://tryhackme.com
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10. Hack The Box (Freemium)
https://www.hackthebox.com
• Suitable for:
• Ethical Hacker
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11. Haiku (Freemium)
• Suitable for:
• Ethical Hacker
https://haikupro.com
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12. Defend the Web (Free)
• Suitable for:
• Ethical Hacker
• Notes:
• Specific to web pentesting
https://defendtheweb.net
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13. Hacker101 CTF (Free)
• Suitable for:
• Ethical Hacker
• Notes:
• Specific to web pentesting
https://ctf.hacker101.com
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14. PentesterLab (Freemium)
• Suitable for:
• Ethical Hacker
• Notes:
• Specific to web
pentesting
https://pentesterlab.com
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