How to Build a Free-Tier Home SOC Lab | Cybersecurity Hands-On Training (AWS + Grafana) - Episode #1

🚀 Can You Build a Real-World Security Operations Center (SOC) at Home—for FREE? 🤯 That’s exactly what I set out to do! In this first episode of CyberDefend Lab, I’ll show you how I turned an ambitious SOC simulation plan into a lightweight, scalable, and cost-effective cybersecurity lab—all while staying within AWS and Oracle Cloud free-tier limits. 🔥 WHAT YOU’LL LEARN IN THIS VIDEO: ✅ How I started with a grand multi-VM SOC vision and why I scaled it down ✅ My revised, free-tier SOC setup for real-world cybersecurity training ✅ The best lightweight security tools for log aggregation, visualization, and monitoring ✅ How this lab prepares me for a SOC Analyst, Penetration Tester, or Incident Responder role ✅ Step-by-step AWS Ubuntu Server + Rsyslog + Fluent Bit setup 💡 Whether you're studying for Security+, learning cybersecurity from scratch, or breaking into a SOC career, this lab setup will help you gain hands-on experience in threat detection, log analysis, and cyber defense! 💀 The Problem: Overcomplicated Labs & High Costs Like many cybersecurity learners, I initially over-engineered my home SOC. My original plan included: 🔴 3 VMs across AWS and Oracle Cloud 🔴 Heavyweight tools like Elastic Stack, AWS GuardDuty, and MISP 🔴 Complex attack simulations that needed constant troubleshooting The result? High costs, too many moving parts, and constant maintenance headaches. 💸 💡 The Solution: A Streamlined Free-Tier SOC Lab To keep things practical and efficient, I revised my lab to one VM + lightweight security tools, maintaining realism without exceeding free-tier limits. 🔥 Phase 1: The Current Setup ✅ Single VM: AWS Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS (SOC Hub) ✅ Log Collection: Rsyslog (Forwarding logs) ✅ Log Aggregation: Fluent Bit (Efficient querying) ✅ Next Step: Grafana for log visualization 🚀 Future Plans: 🔹 Add Rocky Linux as a target system for attack simulations 🔹 Use Kali Linux (Oracle Cloud) for penetration testing & incident response 🔹 Introduce AWS GuardDuty, CloudTrail, and AlienVault OTX for advanced detection 🛠 How This Lab Works (Real-World Cybersecurity Workflows) 🎯 Defender (SOC Hub) – Ubuntu Server ✔️ Collects logs & monitors threats ✔️ Aggregates system logs via Rsyslog & Fluent Bit ✔️ Future: Detecting anomalies using Grafana & AWS GuardDuty 🎯 Target (Victim Machine) – Rocky Linux ✔️ Simulates enterprise/government infrastructure ✔️ Generates forensic data for analysis ✔️ Future: Forwarding logs for centralized SOC monitoring 🎯 Attacker (Red Team) – Kali Linux ✔️ Performs reconnaissance (Nmap) ✔️ Conducts penetration tests (Metasploit, Hydra) ✔️ Future: Exploiting vulnerabilities in the target environment This setup lets me simulate SOC workflows, respond to threats, and analyze security incidents—all without expensive software or hardware! 🔑 Why This Matters to You This isn’t just my personal project—it’s a blueprint for anyone looking to build cybersecurity skills in: 💡 SOC Operations – Learn log monitoring, alerting, and threat detection 💡 Incident Response – Practice real-world forensic analysis & security investigations 💡 Penetration Testing – Simulate attacks & test detection capabilities 🎯 Perfect for: ✔️ Aspiring SOC Analysts & Cybersecurity Students ✔️ Security+ & Google Cybersecurity Certificate Holders ✔️ Ethical Hackers & Blue Team Practitioners 🎬 What’s Next? Episode #2: Grafana Setup & Log Visualization! Want to see how I configure Grafana to visualize logs & monitor security events? Stay tuned for the next episode! 🔔 SUBSCRIBE & TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS so you don’t miss it! 📌 COMMENT BELOW: What’s your biggest challenge in setting up a home lab? Let’s solve it together! 🔗 Resources & Tools Mentioned in This Video: 🛠 AWS Free Tier → AWS Free Tier Sign-Up 🛠 Fluent Bit → Fluent Bit Docs 🛠 Grafana → Grafana Docs 🛠 Metasploit Framework → Metasploit Docs 📢 Follow CyberDefend Lab for More Hands-On Cybersecurity Content! 🔹 #SOCAnalyst #CybersecurityTraining #HomeSOC #ThreatDetection #AWSFreeTier #Grafana #CyberDefendLab #Infosec #CloudSecurity