Prabhu's Maya

Prabhu

Biodynamic gardening offers a profound approach to cultivating the earth, resonating with ancient wisdom and modern ecological consciousness. It transcends conventional organic practices by fostering a holistic understanding of the garden as a living organism, intertwined with the rhythms of nature and the cosmos. Embracing this philosophy nurtures vibrant, nutrient-rich produce while promoting a deeper connection to the natural world.

Key Principles of Biodynamic Gardening

1. Understanding the Farm as a Living Organism:

Biodynamics views the farm or garden as an interconnected entity, where soil, plants, animals, and cosmic forces collaborate in a delicate dance of life.
Nurturing this interconnectedness is paramount, ensuring a synergistic balance that promotes vitality and resilience.

2. Strengthening the Soil:

Biodynamic preparations, meticulously crafted from natural substances, act as catalysts for soil health.
These preparations invigorate microbial life, enhance fertility, and promote a thriving soil ecosystem—the foundation for robust plant growth.

3. Aligning with Cosmic Rhythms:

Biodynamics recognizes the profound influence of celestial rhythms on plant growth.
Planting, cultivating, and harvesting in harmony with lunar cycles, planetary alignments, and seasonal transitions optimizes plant vitality and yields.

4. Embracing Biodiversity:

Biodynamic gardens embrace diversity, fostering a tapestry of plant species, insect life, and beneficial organisms.
This biodiversity fosters resilience, thwarts pests, and creates a harmonious ecosystem where each element contributes to the garden's overall health.

Essential Practices for Biodynamic Gardening Success

1. Composting: The Heart of Soil Fertility

Biodynamic composting is a meticulous art, transforming organic matter into a nutrient-rich elixir for the soil.
Specific preparations, such as BD500 and BD502, enhance compost vitality, accelerating decomposition and enriching the soil's microbial life.

2. Planting by the Moon and Stars:

Biodynamic planting calendars guide gardeners to align sowing and harvesting with auspicious cosmic rhythms.
This practice is believed to optimize plant growth, nutrient uptake, and flavor development.

3. Fostering Biodiversity:

Intercropping, companion planting, and cultivating a diversity of species create a vibrant ecosystem that benefits all inhabitants.
Beneficial insects thrive, pests are kept in check, and the garden becomes a resilient, self-sustaining microcosm.

4. Honoring Animals and Their Role:

Biodynamic farms often integrate livestock, recognizing their crucial role in nutrient cycling, soil fertility, and overall farm health.
Animals contribute manure for compost, grazing for weed control, and their unique energy to the farm's ecosystem.

The Rewards of Biodynamic Gardening

1. Nutrient-Rich, Flavorful Produce:

Biodynamic practices yield produce that is not only free of chemicals but also brimming with vitality and flavor.
The heightened nutrient density and vibrant energy of biodynamically grown food are often palpable to those who consume it.

2. Deeper Connection to Nature:

Biodynamic gardening cultivates a profound sense of connection to the natural world, fostering respect for the delicate balance of life forces that sustain us.
This intimate relationship with nature enriches both the gardener and the garden, fostering a sense of stewardship and gratitude.

3. A Path to Regeneration:

Biodynamic principles offer a roadmap for healing the Earth and restoring vitality to our food systems.
By nourishing the soil, honoring biodiversity, and embracing cosmic rhythms, we can participate in a movement that nurtures life and promotes a thriving planet for generations to come.

Delving Deeper into the Cosmos: Advanced Biodynamic Techniques

We've established the core principles and practices of biodynamic gardening, but the journey doesn't end there. For those seeking to truly connect with the cosmic rhythms and unlock the full potential of their gardens, several advanced techniques await exploration.

Honing Your Sensitivity to Cosmic Forces

1. Observing the Subtle: Planetary Influences

Each planet in our solar system exerts a unique influence on plant growth. For example:

Mars: Associated with vitality and action, Mars days are ideal for seeding fast-growing plants like lettuce and radishes.
Venus: Ruling over love and beauty, Venus days favor planting flowering ornamentals and nurturing delicate fruits.
Saturn: Known for structure and boundaries, Saturn days are well-suited for tasks like transplanting seedlings and pruning woody plants.

By keeping a keen eye on planetary movements and aligning your gardening activities accordingly, you can tap into these subtle cosmic forces and potentially enhance your yields and harvest quality.

2. Harnessing the Moon's Cycles: The Biodynamic Sowing Calendar

The moon's waxing and waning phases have long been recognized as potent influences on plant growth. Biodynamic sowing calendars, meticulously crafted to correspond with these lunar cycles, offer detailed guidance for optimal planting times.

Root Days: During the waning moon, focus on planting root vegetables like carrots, potatoes, and beets. The downward pull of the moon's gravity is believed to encourage vigorous root development.
Leaf Days: Under the waxing moon, prioritize leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, and kale. The moon's upward pull is thought to stimulate lush foliage growth.
Flower Days: The days surrounding the full moon are auspicious for sowing flowering plants, fruit trees, and herbs. The moon's heightened energy is believed to promote vibrant blooms and bountiful harvests.

3. Rhythms of the Zodiac: A Deeper Dive

For the truly dedicated biodynamic gardener, delving into the specific influences of the zodiacal constellations can add another layer of complexity and potential benefit. Each constellation is associated with different plant parts and qualities, offering further guidance for aligning your gardening activities with cosmic rhythms.

For instance, planting tomatoes under the sign of Leo (associated with fire and fruit) or sowing leafy greens under Libra (linked to air and balance) might be seen as particularly auspicious choices. However, mastering this level of astrological integration requires dedication and ongoing study.

Tools and Preparations for the Advanced Biodynamic Gardener

1. The Seven Preparations: Catalysts for Life

Biodynamic preparations are potent natural concoctions crafted from specific plant and animal materials. These preparations, numbered BD500 through BD507, each address different aspects of soil health and plant vitality.

BD500 (Horn manure): Enhances soil fertility and humus formation.
BD501 (Horn silica): Strengthens plant stems and resistance to disease.
BD502 (Cow manure): Stimulates composting and microbial activity.
BD503 (Chamomile): Promotes flower formation and fruit quality.
BD504 (Nettle): Enhances leaf growth and chlorophyll production.
BD505 (Oak bark): Strengthens root systems and resistance to pests.
BD506 (Dandelion): Balances soil moisture and nutrient uptake.

Mastering the application and timing of these preparations takes time and experience, but their potential to invigorate your garden and elevate your biodynamic practice is significant.

2. The Dowsing Rod: Intuition Meets Practicality

The dowsing rod, a simple Y-shaped tool, can be used to intuitively locate underground water sources, ley lines (energetic lines in the Earth), and even compost piles with optimal activity. While its scientific validity is debated, many biodynamic gardeners swear by the dowsing rod as a valuable tool for connecting with the subtle energies of the land.

Conclusion: A Lifelong Journey with Biodynamic Gardening

Biodynamic gardening is not merely a set of techniques; it's a lifelong journey of observation, experimentation, and deepening connection with the natural world. As you delve deeper into its principles and practices, you'll witness firsthand the vibrant life force coursing through your garden, responding to your care and resonating with the rhythms of the cosmos.

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Prabhu

In one of the most incredible comebacks of the NFL season, the Tennessee Titans stunned the Miami Dolphins 28-27 on Monday Night Football. With less than three minutes remaining in the game and trailing by 14 points, the Titans unleashed a furious rally that culminated in a game-winning touchdown with just seconds left on the clock.

The victory was a monumental one for the Titans, who improved to 5-8 on the season and kept their playoff hopes alive. It also dealt a major blow to the Dolphins, who had been riding high atop the AFC East and were considered one of the favorites to reach the Super Bowl.

Dolphins Dominate Early

The Dolphins seemed poised to cruise to victory early on. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was sharp, completing 20 of his 25 passes for 267 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Jeff Wilson Jr. also had a strong performance, rushing for 112 yards and a touchdown.

The Titans, on the other hand, struggled offensively for much of the game. Rookie quarterback Will Levis looked shaky at times, completing only 15 of his 30 passes for 187 yards. The Titans also committed several costly penalties, which helped the Dolphins maintain momentum.

Titans Mount Improbable Comeback

With the Dolphins leading 27-13 late in the fourth quarter, it appeared that the Titans were headed for defeat. However, Levis led the Titans on a pair of remarkable touchdown drives in the final minutes of the game.

The first scoring drive was capped off by a 15-yard touchdown pass from Levis to wide receiver Treylon Burks with 1:50 remaining. On the ensuing two-point conversion attempt, Levis found tight end Austin Hooper for the score, cutting the Dolphins' lead to 27-21.

Following a Miami punt, Levis and the Titans offense went back to work. Levis completed passes of 19 and 15 yards to move the ball into Dolphins territory. With just seconds remaining on the clock, Levis delivered a strike to wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine in the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.

Levis Shines in the Spotlight

Levis, who was making just his third career start, was the hero of the game for the Titans. He finished with 327 passing yards and two touchdowns, displaying a poise and clutchness that belied his rookie status.

"I'm just so proud of our guys," Levis said after the game. "We never gave up, even when things looked bleak. We just kept fighting, and it paid off in the end."

Dolphins Left to Rue Missed Opportunities

The Dolphins were left to rue their missed opportunities after the game. They had several chances to put the game away in the fourth quarter, but they were unable to capitalize.

"We just made too many mistakes," Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. "We had a chance to win this game, but we didn't take advantage of it. We need to learn from our mistakes and move on."

What's Next for Both Teams?

The Titans will look to build on their momentum when they host the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. The Dolphins, meanwhile, will try to get back on track when they travel to face the Buffalo Bills.

Historic Comeback

The Titans' comeback was one of the most memorable in recent NFL history. It was the first time since 2003 that a team had overcome a 14-point deficit in the final three minutes of a game and won in regulation.

The victory also proved that the Titans are a team that can never be counted out. Despite their up-and-down season, they remain in the thick of the AFC playoff race.

Conclusion

The Titans' thrilling comeback victory over the Dolphins was a testament to the power of perseverance and never giving up. It was a game that will be remembered for years to come, and it served as a reminder that anything is possible in the NFL.

Key Statistics:

Titans: 327 passing yards, 2 touchdowns
Dolphins: 267 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, 112 rushing yards, 1 touchdown
Titans: 5-8 record
Dolphins: 9-5 record

Additional Notes:

The Titans were without star running back Derrick Henry for the second straight game.
The Dolphins were also without several key players, including wide receiver Jaylen Waddle and safety Jevon Holland.
The game was played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
The attendance was 75,417.

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Prabhu

Electroculture is a fascinating and growing field of agriculture that uses electric fields to stimulate plant growth. One of the key components of an electroculture system is the electroculture antenna. In this article, we will discuss everything you need to know about electroculture antennas, including what they are, how they work, and how to build your own.

References:

What is an electroculture antenna?

An electroculture antenna is a device that is used to create an electric field in the air. This electric field can then be used to stimulate the growth of plants. Electroculture antennas can be made from a variety of materials, including copper wire, aluminum foil, and even cardboard.

How do electroculture antennas work?

When an electric current is passed through an electroculture antenna, it creates an electric field around the antenna. This electric field can then be used to stimulate the growth of plants in a number of ways.

Increased cell division: The electric field can cause plant cells to divide more rapidly, which can lead to faster growth.
Improved nutrient uptake: The electric field can also help plants to absorb nutrients from the soil more efficiently.
Increased chlorophyll production: Chlorophyll is the pigment that gives plants their green color. The electric field can help plants to produce more chlorophyll, which can lead to increased photosynthesis and growth.
Enhanced disease resistance: The electric field can help plants to resist diseases by activating their immune systems.

How to build your own electroculture antenna

There are many different ways to build an electroculture antenna. One simple method is to use copper wire to create a spiral coil. The coil should be about 1 foot in diameter and 6 inches tall. The coil can then be mounted on a wooden stake and placed in the ground near your plants.

Benefits of using electroculture antennas

There are many benefits to using electroculture antennas. Some of the most common benefits include:

Increased yields: Studies have shown that electroculture antennas can increase yields by up to 30%.
Improved crop quality: Electroculture antennas can help to improve the quality of crops by making them more resistant to pests and diseases.
Reduced need for pesticides: Electroculture antennas can help to reduce the need for pesticides by making plants more resistant to pests.
More sustainable agriculture: Electroculture is a more sustainable form of agriculture than traditional methods because it does not rely on the use of chemicals.

Here are some additional tips for using electroculture antennas:

The best time to use electroculture antennas is during the growing season.
The antennas should be placed near the plants, but not so close that they touch the leaves.
The antennas should be turned on for at least 8 hours per day.
It is important to experiment with different antenna designs and configurations to find what works best for your specific plants and growing conditions.

Conclusion

Electroculture antennas are a simple and effective way to improve the growth of your plants. If you are looking for a way to increase your yields and improve the quality of your crops, then electroculture may be a good option for you.

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Prabhu

Social engineering is a nontechnical method of breaking into a system or network. It's the process of deceiving users of a system and convincing them to perform acts useful to the hacker, such as giving out information that can be used to defeat or bypass security mechanisms. Social engineering is important to understand because hackers can use it to attack the human element of a system and circumvent technical security measures. This method can be used to gather information before or during an attack.

A social engineer commonly uses the telephone or Internet to trick people into revealing sensitive information or to get them to do something that is against the security policies of the organization. By this method, social engineers exploit the natural tendency of a person to trust their word, rather than exploiting computer security holes. It's generally agreed that users are the weak link in security; this principle is what makes social engineering possible.

The most dangerous part of social engineering is that companies with authentication processes, firewalls, virtual private networks, and network monitoring software are still wide open to attacks, because social engineering doesn't assault the security measures directly. Instead, a social-engineering attack bypasses the security measures and goes after the human element in an organization.

Types of Social Engineering-Attacks

There are two types of Social Engineering attacks

Human-Based

Human-based social engineering refers to person-to-person interaction to retrieve the desired information. An example is calling the help desk and trying to find out a password.

Computer-Based

Computer-based social engineering refers to having computer software that attempts to retrieve the desired information. An example is sending a user an email and asking them to reenter a password in a web page to confirm it. This social-engineering attack is also known as phishing.

Human-Based Social Engineering

Human-Based further categorized as follow:

Impersonating an Employee or Valid User

In this type of social-engineering attack, the hacker pretends to be an employee or valid user on the system. A hacker can gain physical access by pretending to be a janitor, employee, or contractor. Once inside the facility, the hacker gathers information from trashcans, desktops, or computer systems.

Posing as an Important User

In this type of attack, the hacker pretends to be an important user such as an executive or high-level manager who needs immediate assistance to gain access to a computer system or files. The hacker uses intimidation so that a lower-level employee such as a help desk worker will assist them in gaining access to the system. Most low-level employees won't question someone who appears to be in a position of authority.

Using a Third Person

Using the third-person approach, a hacker pretends to have permission from an authorized source to use a system. This attack is especially effective if the supposed authorized source is on vacation or can't be contacted for verification.

Calling Technical Support

Calling tech support for assistance is a classic social-engineering technique. Help desk and technical support personnel are trained to help users, which makes them good prey for social-engineering attacks.

Shoulder Surfing

Shoulder surfing is a technique of gathering passwords by watching over a person's shoulder while they log in to the system. A hacker can watch a valid user log in and then use that password to gain access to the system.

Dumpster Diving

Dumpster diving involves looking in the trash for information written on pieces of paper or computer printouts. The hacker can often find passwords, filenames, or other pieces of confidential information.

Computer-Based Social Engineering

Computer-based social-engineering attacks can include the following:

Email attachments
Fake websites
Pop-up windows

Insider Attacks

If a hacker can't find any other way to hack an organization, the next best option is to infiltrate the organization by getting hired as an employee or finding a disgruntled employee to assist in the attack. Insider attacks can be powerful because employees have physical access and are able to move freely about the organization. An example might be someone posing as a delivery person by wearing a uniform and gaining access to a delivery room or loading dock. Another possibility is someone posing as a member of the cleaning crew who has access to the inside of the building and is usually able to move about the offices. As a last resort, a hacker might bribe or otherwise coerce an employee to participate in the attack by providing information such as passwords.

Identity Theft

A hacker can pose as an employee or steal the employee's identity to perpetrate an attack. Information gathered in dumpster diving or shoulder surfing in combination with creating fake ID badges can gain the hacker entry into an organization. Creating a persona that can enter the building unchallenged is the goal of identity theft.

Phishing Attacks

Phishing involves sending an email, usually posing as a bank, credit card company, or other financial organization. The email requests that the recipient confirm banking information or reset passwords or PINs. The user clicks the link in the email and is redirected to a fake website. The hacker is then able to capture this information and use it for financial gain or to perpetrate other attacks. Emails that claim the senders have a great amount of money but need your help getting it out of the country are examples of phishing attacks. These attacks prey on the common person and are aimed at getting them to provide bank account access codes or other confidential information to the hacker.

Online Scams

Some websites that make free offers or other special deals can lure a victim to enter a username and password that may be the same as those they use to access their work system.
The hacker can use this valid username and password once the user enters the information in the website form. Mail attachments can be used to send malicious code to a victim's system, which could automatically execute something like a software keylogger to capture passwords. Viruses, Trojans, and worms can be included in cleverly crafted emails to entice a victim to open the attachment. Mail attachments are considered a computer-based social-engineering attack.Related links

Prabhu

What is the process of hacking or phases of hacking?
Hacking is broken up into six phases:The more you get close to all phases,the more stealth will be your attack.

1-Reconnaissance-This is the primary phase of hacking where hacker tries to collect as much as information as possible about the target.It includes identifying the target,domain name registration records of the target, mail server records,DNS records.The tools that are widely used in the process is NMAP,Hping,Maltego, and Google Dorks.

2-Scanning-This makes up the base of hacking! This is where planning for attack actually begins! The tools used in this process are Nessus,Nexpose,and NMAP. After reconnaissance the attacker scans the target for services running,open ports,firewall detection,finding out vulnerabilities,operating system detection.

3-Gaining Access-In this process the attacker executes the attack based on vulnerabilities which were identified during scanning! After the successful, he get access to the target network or enter in to the system.The primary tools that is used in this process is Metasploit.

4-Maintaining Access-It is the process where the hacker has already gained access in to a system. After gaining access the hacker, the hacker installs some backdoors in order to enter in to the system when he needs access in this owned system in future. Metasploit is the preffered toll in this process.

5-Clearning track or Covering track-To avoid getting traced and caught,hacker clears all the tracks by clearing all kinds of logs and deleted the uploaded backdoor and anything in this process related stuff which may later reflect his presence!

6-Reporting-Reporting is the last step of finishing the ethical hacking process.Here the Ethical Hacker compiles a report with his findings and the job that was done such as the tools used,the success rate,vulnerabilities found,and the exploit process.

Related posts

Prabhu

Introduction

It was 20 November, and I was just starting to wonder what I would do during the next month. I had already left my previous job, and the new one would only start in January. Playing with PS4 all month might sound fun for some people, but I knew I would get bored quickly.

Even though I have some limited red teaming experience, I always felt that I wanted to explore the excitement of getting Domain Admin – again. I got my first DA in ˜2010 using pass-the-hash, but that was a loooong time ago, and things change quickly.

While reading the backlogs of one of the many Slack rooms, I noticed that certain chat rooms were praising RastaLabs. Looking at the lab description, I felt "this is it, this is exactly what I need." How hard could it be, I have a whole month ahead of me, surely I will finish it before Christmas. Boy, was I wrong.

The one-time fee of starting the lab is 90 GBP which includes the first month, then every additional month costs 20 GBP. I felt like I was stealing money from Rastamouse and Hackthebox... How can it be so cheap? Sometimes cheap indicates low quality, but not in this case.

My experience

Regarding my previous experience, I already took OSCP, OSCE, SLAE (Securitytube Linux Assembly Expert), and PSP (Powershell for Pentesters), all of which helped me a lot during the lab. I also had some limited red teaming experience. I had more-than-average experience with AV evasion, and I already had experience with the new post-exploit frameworks like Covenant and Powershell Empire. As for writing exploits, I knew how a buffer overflow or a format string attack worked, but I lacked practice in bypassing ASLR and NX. I basically had zero experience with Mimikatz on Windows 10. I used Mimikatz back in 2012, but probably not since. I also had a lot of knowledge on how to do X and Y, on useful tools and hot techniques, but I lacked recent experience with them. Finally, I am usually the last when it comes to speed in hacking, but I have always balanced my lack of speed with perseverance.

RastaLabs starts in 3,2,1 ...

So I paid the initial entry fee, got the VPN connection pack, connected to the lab, and got my first flag after ... 4 days. And there were 17 of them in total. This was the first time I started to worry. I did everything to keep myself on the wrong track, stupid things like assuming incorrect lab network addresses, scanning too few machines, finding the incorrect breadcrumbs via OSINT, trying to exploit a patched web service (as most OSCPers would do), etc. I was also continually struggling with the tools I was using, as I never knew whether they were buggy, or I was misusing them, or this is just not the way to get the flag. I am sure someone with luck and experience could have done this stage in 2-3 hours, but hey, I was there to gain experience.

During the lab, whenever I got stuck with the same problem for more than 30-40 hours and my frustration was running high, I pinged Rastamouse on the official RastaLabs support channel on https://mm.netsecfocus.com/. I usually approached him like "Hi, I tried X, Y, and Z but no luck", then he replied "yeah, try Y harder". This kind of information was usually all I needed, and 2-3 hours later I was back on track again. His help was always enough, but never too much to spoil the fun. The availability and professionalism of Rastamouse was 10/10. Huge multi-billion dollar companies fail to provide good enough support, this one guy here was always there to help. Amazing. I highly recommend joining the Mattermost channel – it will help you a lot to see that you are not the only one stuck with problems. But please do not DM him or the channel if you have not already tried harder.

What's really lovely in the lab is that you can expect real-world scenarios with "RastaLabs employees" working on their computer, reading emails, browsing the web, etc. I believe it is not a spoiler here that at some point in time you have to deliver malware that evades the MS Defender AV on the machine. Yes, there is a real working Defender on the machines, and although it is a bit out of date, it might catch your default payload very quickly. As I previously mentioned, luckily I had recent experience with AV evasion, so this part was not new to me. I highly recommend setting up your own Win10 with the latest Defender updates and testing your payload on it first. If it works there, it will work in the lab. This part can be especially frustrating, because the only feedback you get from the lab is that nothing is happening, and there is no way to debug it. Test your solution locally first.

Powershell Empire turned out to be an excellent solution for me, the only functionality it lacked was Port Forwarding. But you can drop other tools to do this job efficiently.

A little help: even if you manage to deliver your payload and you have a working C&C, it does not mean your task with AV evasion is over. It is highly probable that Defender will block your post-exploit codes. To bypass this, read all the blog posts from Rastamouse about AMSI bypass. This is important.

Lateral movement

When you finally get your first shell back ...

A whole new world starts. From now on, you will spend significant time on password cracking, lateral movement, persistence, and figuring out how Windows AD works.

In the past, I played a lot of CTF, and from time to time I got the feeling "yeah, even though this challenge was fun, it was not realistic". This never happened during RastaLabs. All the challenges and solutions were 100% realistic, and as the "Ars poetica" of RastaLabs states:

...which is sooooo true. None of the tasks involve any exploit of any CVE. You need a different mindset for this lab. You need to think about misconfigurations, crackable passwords, privilege abuse, and similar issues. But I believe this lab is still harder to own than 90% of the organizations out there. The only help is that there are no blue-teamers killing our shells.

About the architecture of the lab: When connecting to the lab with VPN, you basically found yourself in a network you might label as "Internet", with your target network being behind a firewall, just as a proper corporate network should be.

There are a bunch of workstations – Win10 only, and some servers like fileserver, exchange, DC, SQL server, etc. The majority of servers are Windows Server 2016, and there is one Linux server. The two sites are adequately separated and firewalled.

As time passed, I was getting more and more flags, and I started to feel the power. Then the rollercoaster experience started. I was useless, I knew nothing. Getting the flag, I was god. One hour later, I was useless.

For example, I spent a significant amount of time trying to get GUI access to the workstations. In the end, I managed to get that, just to find out I did not achieve anything with it. For unknown reasons, none of the frameworks I tried had a working VNC, so I set up my own, and it was pain.

On December 18, I finally got Domain Admin privileges. So my estimation to "finish the lab" in one month was not that far off. Except that I was far from finishing it, as I still had to find five other flags I was missing. You might ask "you already have DA, how hard could it be to find the remaining five?". Spoiler alert, it was hard. Or to be more precise, not hard, just challenging, and time-consuming. This was also a time when connections on Mattermost RastaLabs channel helped me a lot. Hints like "flag X is on machine Y" helped me keep motivated, yet it did not spoil the fun. Without hints like this, I would not have written this post but would have been stuck with multiple flags.

About exploitation

And there was the infamous challenge, "ROP the night away." This was totally different from the other 16. I believe this image explains it all:

If you are not friends with GDB, well, you will have a hard time. If you don't have lots of hands-on experience with NX bypass - a.k.a ROP - like me, you will have a hard time with this challenge. The binary exploit challenges during OSCP and OSCE exams are nowhere near as complex as this one. If you have OSEE, you will be fine. For this challenge, I used GDB-Peda and Python pwntools – check them out in case you are not familiar with them. For me, solving this challenge took about 40 hours. Experienced CTF people could probably solve it in 4 hours or less.

Conclusion

I would not recommend taking this lab for total beginners *. I also do not recommend doing the lab if you only have limited time per day, which is especially true if you are working on your home computer. I probably would have saved hours or even days if I had set up a dedicated server in the cloud for this lab. The issue was that the lab workstations were rebooted every day, which meant that I always lost my shells. "Persistence FTW", you might say, but if your C&C is down when the workstation reboots, you are screwed. "Scheduled tasks FTW", you might say, but unless you have a strict schedule on when you start your computer, you will end up with a bunch of scheduled tasks just to get back the shell whenever you start your computer. Day after day I spent the first hour getting back to where I had been the day before. And I just figured out at the end of the lab why some of my scheduled tasks were not working ...

I would be really interested to see how much time I spent connected to the lab. Probably it was around 200–250 hours in total, which I believe is more than I spent on OSCP and OSCE combined. But it was totally worth it. I really feel the power now that I learned so many useful things.

But if you consider that the price of the one-month lab is 20 GBP, it is still a very cheap option to practice your skills.

* It is totally OK to do the lab in 6 months, in case you start as a beginner. That is still just 190 GBP for the months of lab access, and you will gain a lot of experience during this time. You will probably have a hard time reaching the point when you have a working shell, but it is OK. You can find every information on Google, you just need time, patience and willingness to get there.

Anyway, it is still an option not to aim to "get all the flags". Even just by getting the first two flags, you will gain significant experience in "getting a foothold". But for me, not getting all the flags was never an option.

If you are still unconvinced, check these other blog posts:

https://jmpesp.me/a-rastalabs-story/

https://www.gerrenmurphy.com/rastalabs-review/

Or see what others wrote about RastaLabs.

Footnote

In case you start the lab, please, pretty please, follow the rules, and do not spoil the fun for others. Do not leave your tools around, do not keep shared drives open, do not leave FLAGs around. Leave the machine as it was. If you have to upload a file, put it in a folder others won't easily find. This is a necessary mindset when it comes to real-world red teaming. Don't forget to drop a party parrot into the chat whenever you or someone else gets a new flag. And don't forget:

OSCP has no power here. Cry harder!

I will probably keep my subscription to the lab and try new things, new post-exploit frameworks. I would like to thank @_rastamouse for this great experience, @superkojiman for the ROP challenge. Hackthebox for hosting the lab with excellent uptime.

As for @gentilkiwi and @harmj0y, these two guys probably advanced red-teaming more than everyone else combined together. pwntools from @gallopsled was also really helpful. And I will be forever grateful to Bradley from finance for his continuous support whenever I lost my shells.

Prabhu's Maya

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