// Home Lab

Lab Architecture

A home network built in layers — SIEM first, segmentation and an offensive box coming next. Each component gets added deliberately, with real reasoning behind sequencing rather than throwing everything in at once.

Current Components

SIEM

Wazuh Manager — Dell G7 (Ubuntu Server)

Headless Wazuh SIEM manager, administered via SSH. Central point for log ingestion, alert rules, and dashboard review.

FW

OPNsense — Lenovo laptop (staged, not yet inline)

Wiped and staged as a dedicated firewall for network segmentation. Cutover planned for a travel week to avoid disrupting household network use.

ATK

Kali Linux — 2018 MacBook (planned)

Future offensive box for Atomic Red Team exercises and purple-teaming against the Wazuh detection stack.

NET

TP-Link Deco Mesh

Currently primary router; will switch to Access Point mode once OPNsense is inline as the routing/firewall layer.

IAM

Microsoft Entra ID (cloud)

Free/dev-tier tenant integrated with Wazuh via the Graph API–based azure-logs module, feeding directory audit and sign-in activity into the SIEM.

Build Philosophy

Reasoning Over Rote Steps

  • Every alert is worked as a triage exercise, not just a config task to complete
  • Detection rules are written with an explicit "what gap does this close" rationale

Safety-First Sequencing

  • Network-disrupting changes planned and tested before going live, not rushed in
  • No management protocol exposed beyond the local network until segmentation is in place