How I Made My Own Cybersecurity Lab at Home (Using Just One Laptop)

In this post, I’ll show you how I created a full-fledged cybersecurity lab on my laptop — a safe, isolated environment where I can practice hacking on real vulnerable machines without risking my home network. It’s beginner-friendly, powerful, and completely free to set up!

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Why I Created a Cybersecurity Lab

I wanted to learn ethical hacking and penetration testing — but safely. I didn’t want to mess up my real home network or open it to actual hackers. That’s why I built a **private virtual hacking lab** right inside my laptop using: -> Kali Linux (for hacking) -> VulnHub machines (to hack) -> VirtualBox (to run both machines safely)

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What You’ll Need

-> A laptop or PC with at least **16GB RAM** (important for running two VMs smoothly) -> **VirtualBox** installed (free) -> **Kali Linux** virtual machine -> A vulnerable machine (I used the Mr. Robot VM from VulnHub)

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Step 1: Install VirtualBox

Go to the official VirtualBox website and download it for your OS (Windows, Linux, or macOS). Also install the Extension Pack. 👉 Download VirtualBox Once installed, we’ll use this to run our hacking machine and the vulnerable machine side-by-side.

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Step 2: Download Kali Linux and Mr. Robot VM

You’ll need two machines: ✅ Kali Linux – The attacker (comes with all hacking tools) ✅ Mr. Robot VM – The target (intentionally vulnerable) 👉 Download Kali for VirtualBox 👉 Download Mr. Robot from VulnHub These are `.ova` files – easy to import into VirtualBox.

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Step 3: Import the Machines into VirtualBox

Open VirtualBox and: -> Click **File → Import Appliance** -> Select the Kali `.ova` file -> Do the same for the Mr. Robot `.ova` file -> Rename the machines to something cooler if you want 😉 Do not start the VMs yet.

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Step 4: Create an Isolated Internal Network

To keep everything secure, we’ll isolate these VMs from your real network. -> Go to **Settings → Network** for both VMs -> Change “Attached to” from NAT to **Internal Network** -> Set network name to something like: `labnet` Now both machines can talk to each other — but not your real network. Super safe!

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Step 5: Add a DHCP Server

Internal networks don’t automatically assign IPs, so we’ll create a DHCP server using VirtualBox command line: Open CMD as Admin and run this: Now your VMs will get IP addresses automatically inside the lab.

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Step 6: Boot and Verify

1. Start Kali Linux 2. Log in: → username: `kali` → password: `kali` 3. Open Terminal and run:

ip a

4. You should see something like:

10.10.10.100

Now start Mr. Robot and let it boot in the background.

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Step 7: Find and Scan the Vulnerable Machine

Back in Kali Terminal, use `nmap` to scan the internal range:

sudo nmap -sS -T4 10.10.10.100-120

This will find the Mr. Robot VM. Look for open ports like 80 (web server), 443 (HTTPS), and 22 (SSH).

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Step 8: Start Hacking (Ethically!)

Now open a browser in Kali and go to:

http://10.10.10.101

(or whatever IP was assigned) You’ll see the Mr. Robot themed vulnerable web server — now use your tools like: -> Nikto -> Gobuster -> SQLmap -> Burp Suite To enumerate, exploit, and find the hidden flags (it’s a CTF-style machine).

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🔗 Related: My Raspberry Pi Cloud Server Guide – Host your own private file server with full security.

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Why This Lab is Safe

-> Internal VirtualBox network is fully isolated -> Vulnerable machines cannot access the Internet or your home network -> You can test real attacks legally -> You can import as many targets from VulnHub as you want

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What I Learned from This

-> How to use VirtualBox properly -> How network isolation really works -> Basics of scanning, enumeration, and exploiting -> How to safely practice without hurting anyone And best of all — it was free. Just one laptop and time to explore.

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Final Words

If you want to get into cybersecurity or ethical hacking, this lab is a perfect starting point. You’ll learn everything hands-on, safely, and without breaking any rules. 👉 Try it yourself and share your results. 👉 Also check my Full Tech Journey to see how I started from zero. Thanks for reading! And remember — hack the box, not the planet. 😎