Building a security lab is something I get asked about really often. So often, in fact, that I decided to put some of my notes together and record a short training video on the topic. This video is only a small part of a much larger series I’m developing, so if you’re interested in learning more about that when it’s available, sign up for my mailing list.

In this one hour video I discuss the importance of an NSM lab and go through a systematic approach to building your own. I go through the following topics:

Analyzing your needs to define your inputs and desired outputs

Modeling your lab by building a list of technologies

The pros and cons of physical, virtual, and cloud based labs

Choosing the right platform for your lab

Designing your lab network

Sourcing the right hardware for your lab

Taking a step by step approach to designing and building the lab

Once you’re done with this video, you should have a system you can follow to build a lab that will help you test and build detection, analyze malware, and create simulations. I also provide a lot of insight to my own personal lab I use for my writing and my day job. I’ve also included some additional resources:

Lab planning worksheet

An exact parts list from my lab

Two example lab network diagrams

The network diagram for my personal lab

You can access the additional resources mentioned in the video here.