CyberSec: Exploring the Landscape, Tools and Hardware Exploits

welcome

On 24th September 2026, Mukti conducted a session on the cybersecurity landscape, essential tools, and hardware exploitation. Here is an overview of what was covered during the event.

what to expect

• What do Cyber-Security professionals actually do?
• Importance of Linux in Cyber-Security
• What is “the chain of topics” or “the art of exploring”?
• Platforms to learn and explore from
• Black box learning
• Cyber tools
• Industry accepted certificates in Cyber-Security
• Demonstration of Strom-Breaker and Pico Ducky (USB dead-drop)
• Project Mania

what do cyber-security professionals actually do?

The industry jobs:

A few key areas:

• Application Security & DevSecOps: Securing web apps and build pipelines
• Network Security & Firewalls/IDS/IPS: Traffic monitoring and network boundaries
• Endpoint & Mobile Security: Securing workstations, laptops, and mobile devices
• Cloud Security & IAM: Identity and access management in cloud environments
• Cyber Forensics & Incident Response: Breach analysis, log auditing, and recovery
• Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC): Security auditing and regulatory compliance
• IoT & OT/IIoT Security: Securing hardware, sensors, and operational infrastructure
• Cryptanalysis & Data Loss Prevention (DLP): Protecting sensitive records and keys

The above mentioned are ethically encouraged jobs for Cyber-Security professionals.

linux in cyber-security

• Community Support: Massive global community maintaining open-source tools and documentation.
• Open-Source: Full control and visibility into system internals and networking.
• Stable and Patch Management: Quick patch deployment and system updates.
• Dedicated Tools and OS: Specialized operating systems like Kali Linux with built-in security toolkits.

chain of topics or art of exploring

One common question when getting started is “where do I start?”. The best approach is to start building directly.

When exploring through projects, one topic naturally sparks curiosity into the next:

• Socket programming leads to inspecting network packets
• Packet inspection leads to discovering encryption like TLS
• TLS leads to asymmetric keys and hashing
• Hashing leads to building practical tools like a password manager

Building projects and following this “chain of topics” expands your intuition much faster than just passively watching tutorials.

websites to learn from

• MIT course: missing sem: The missing semester of your CS education (CLI, tools, shell scripting)
• Cryptographic programming: Cryptopals: Practical challenges on cryptography and broken ciphers
• Learning Platform: TryHackMe: Guided hands-on rooms and labs
• OG CTF Platform: Pico CTF: Beginner-friendly Capture-The-Flag challenges
• Advanced CTF: Microcorruption: Embedded security and assembly language debugging

black box learning and cyber tools

Black box learning means using a tool or library first to see results without getting blocked trying to learn every internal detail upfront.

A few cyber tools demonstrated:

• Username lookup: maigret - Search usernames across social platforms
• Create Phishing websites: zphisher - Phishing simulation tool for awareness
• Spy tool: Strom-Breaker - Permission and social engineering testing framework
• Check for leaks: haveibeenpwned - Check if personal credentials were leaked online

demonstration: strom-breaker + zrok + pico ducky

We demonstrated how physical hardware and remote tunneling work together:

• Hosting with zrok: Used zrok to host Strom-Breaker locally and tunnel it publicly without router port-forwarding.
• Pico Ducky payload deployer: Converted a Raspberry Pi Pico into a Pico Ducky. When plugged into a machine, it is recognized as a trusted USB keyboard (HID), executes keystroke payloads, and triggers the link via the zrok tunnel in seconds.

industry accepted certificates in cyber-security

• Isc2’s SSCP
• AZ500 by microsoft
• CEH by EC-council
• CompTIA (Security+ / Network+)

project mania

Lets get our hands Dirty!

• Please hack the link: satark_4 CTF

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credits

San, Praneel, Mukti Core