Introduction:
In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, ethical hacking has become an indispensable practice for organizations looking to fortify their digital defenses. Creating a virtual lab for ethical hacking provides a safe and controlled environment for security professionals and enthusiasts to hone their skills without compromising real-world systems. In this blog post, we will explore the steps to set up a virtual lab tailored for ethical hacking.
Choose the Right Platform:
Selecting the right virtualization platform is a fundamental decision. What virtual machine software you want to use there are 2 most popular providers -
Choosing between VMware and VirtualBox depends on your specific needs and preferences. VMware, with its performance and advanced features, may be preferable for professional use or resource-intensive tasks. On the other hand, VirtualBox, being free and open source, is an excellent choice for personal use, experimentation, and environments where cost is a significant factor. Both platforms have active communities, ensuring ongoing support and development. Ultimately, the choice between VMware and VirtualBox comes down to your individual requirements and the specific features that align with your virtualization goals.
In this demonstration I'm using VirtualBox as it's fully free and opensource. To download VirtualBox head over to the download link and download according to your system.
Next install VirtualBox into your system and also don't forget to install VirtualBox Extension Pack
from here if you choose VirtualBox.
Next we need an Operating System and for that we have many options but as a beginner it's better to use pre baked Operating Systems specifically for hacking. We have mainly 2 Operating Systems for that
I choose Kali Linux for this tutorial. So, to get Kali Linux go to their website and download the ISO or Prebuild virtual machines. For this I used prebuild virtual machine.
Note: Parrot OS also provides prebuild VMs only for VirtualBox.
Click on recommended button and it will bring this.
Click on what platform you are using for me its VirtualBox.
After the download finishes extract the file using 7zip or Winrar.
After the extraction of the file has been completed open the extracted folder and double click on the file that has a file extension .vbox and the virtual machine will be imported to VirtualBox.
For that we will install Metasploitable machine. Metasploitable is an intentionally vulnerable Linux virtual machine made by rapid7
Download Metasploitable Machine from here.
After the download is finished extract the file and open the folder.
Actually Metasploitable machine isn't made for VirtualBox so we need some more extra steps for that.
Lets start,
- In VirtualBox Manager, select New
- Fill in the “Name” you want to call this VM (we’ll call it metasploitable2)
- Choose a folder to save the VM to (we suggest keeping all your VMs together in one place)
- Select the Type of system (in this case, Linux)
- Choose the Version (we will simply select Other Linux 64-bit)
- Click Next
7. You can leave the default RAM allocation as-is and click Next again.
8. When you reach the Hard Disk screen, choose “Use an existing virtual hard disk file” and click the folder icon. A Hard Disk Selector screen will open up. Click Add.
9. Navigate to the location of the .vmdk file and choose it.
10. It will then be added to the Selector List. Select it and click Choose.
Finally, click “Create” and the machine will appear in VirtualBox Manager underneath your Kali Linux VM.
After that we are finished with the installation of our required systems for the ethical hacking lab.
Conclusion:
Creating a virtual lab for ethical hacking is a strategic investment in skill development and cybersecurity awareness. By following these steps, you can build a comprehensive and realistic environment that allows you to practice ethical hacking techniques in a controlled and safe setting. Remember, the key to mastering ethical hacking lies in continuous learning, experimentation, and staying abreast of the latest industry trends. Happy hacking!
