Cybersecurity Projects 🐉
70 Cybersecurity Projects, Certification Roadmaps & Resources
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Hands-on cybersecurity projects with full source code, organized in four tiers — Foundations (pre-beginner, first-time programmers), Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced.
10 structured career paths with certification guides for SOC Analyst, Pentester, Security Engineer, and more.
Tools, courses, certifications, communities, and frameworks for cybersecurity professionals.
Projects
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Foundations Projects
Note
Start here if this is your first time coding. The Foundations tier is pre-beginner — built for someone who has never written Python, has barely used a terminal, and is new to cybersecurity. Source files are heavily commented as a teaching aid, and every learn/ folder explains concepts from zero. Once you're comfortable here, the Beginner projects assume you already know the language and move faster.
What makes Foundations different:
- Single-file projects — the entire tool lives in one readable Python file. No file-hopping.
- Heavy teaching comments — every line that introduces a new concept is annotated inline.
- Numpy-style docstrings on every function — what it does, why it exists, every parameter.
- Extra-deep
learn/folders — Python features and security concepts both explained from zero. - Senior-level code, beginner-level explanations — the code itself is still production-quality.
| Project | Info | What You'll Learn |
|---|---|---|
| Hash Identifier Identify hash types by prefix, length, and charset |
Hash families (MD5, SHA, bcrypt, Argon2) • PHC string format • Pattern matching • Pure-function design Source Code | Docs |
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| HTTP Headers Scanner Audit a URL's response headers for missing or weak security controls |
HTTP fundamentals • Security headers (CSP, HSTS, X-Frame-Options) • httpx requests • Scored audits Source Code | Docs |
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| Password Manager Encrypted local vault with master password unlock |
Argon2id key derivation • AES-GCM authenticated encryption • Secure on-disk vaults • Master-password workflows Source Code | Docs |
Beginner Projects
| Project | Info | What You'll Learn |
|---|---|---|
| Simple Port Scanner Async TCP port scanner in C++ @deniskhud |
TCP socket programming • Async I/O patterns • Service detection Source Code | Docs |
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| Keylogger Capture keyboard events with timestamps |
Event handling • File I/O • Ethical considerations Source Code | Docs |
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| Caesar Cipher CLI encryption/decryption tool |
Classical cryptography • Brute force attacks • CLI design Source Code | Docs |
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| DNS Lookup CLI Tool Query DNS records with WHOIS |
DNS protocols • WHOIS queries • Reverse DNS lookup Source Code | Docs |
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| Simple Vulnerability Scanner Check software against CVE databases |
CVE databases • Dependency scanning • Vulnerability assessment Source Code | Docs |
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| Network Traffic Analyzer Capture and analyze packets |
Packet capture • Protocol analysis • Traffic visualization Source (C++) | Docs (C++) | Source (Python) | Docs (Python) |
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| Hash Cracker Dictionary and brute-force cracking |
Hash algorithms • Dictionary attacks • Password security Source Code | Docs |
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| Steganography Multi-Tool Hide data in images, audio, QR, PDFs, text |
Multi-format steganography • Encrypted AEAD envelope • Zero-width Unicode • Audio LSB • QR Reed-Solomon injection Source Code | Docs |
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| Deserialization Gadget Lab Read untrusted Marshal and YAML without ever reviving it, then break it |
Gadget chains • Marshal binary format • Gated vs ungated dispatch • TracePoint veto • CVE-2026-41316 Source Code | Docs |
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| Canary Token Generator Self-hosted honeytokens that alert on access |
Deception defense • Honeytokens • MySQL wire protocol • PDF/DOCX patching • Webhook + Telegram alerting Source Code | Docs |
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| Phishing Domain Generator & Quishing Scanner Typosquat generation + QR phishing detection |
Homoglyph attacks • Typosquatting • QR code analysis • Domain intelligence Learn More |
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| SSH Brute Force Detector Monitor and block SSH attacks |
Log parsing • Attack detection • Firewall automation Learn More |
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| Simple C2 Beacon Command and Control beacon/server |
C2 architecture • MITRE ATT&CK • WebSocket protocol • XOR encoding Source Code | Docs |
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| Base64 Encoder/Decoder Multi-format encoding tool |
Base64/32 encoding • URL encoding • Auto-detection Source Code | Docs |
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| Linux CIS Hardening Auditor CIS benchmark compliance checker |
CIS benchmarks • System hardening • Compliance scoring • Shell scripting Source Code | Docs |
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| Systemd Persistence Scanner Hunt Linux persistence mechanisms |
Persistence techniques • Systemd internals • Cron analysis • Threat hunting Source Code | Docs |
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| Linux eBPF Security Tracer Real-time syscall tracing with eBPF |
eBPF programs • Syscall tracing • BCC framework • Security observability Source Code | Docs |
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| Trojan Application Builder Educational malware lifecycle demo |
Trojan anatomy • Data exfiltration • File encryption • Attack lifecycle Learn More |
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| DNS Sinkhole Pi-hole-style malware domain blocker |
DNS protocol • Blocklist management • Query logging • Network defense Learn More |
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| Firewall Rule Engine Parse and validate iptables/nftables rules |
Firewall internals • Rule parsing • iptables/nftables • V language Source Code | Docs |
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| LLM Prompt Injection Firewall Sandbox the effects, not the prompt: fence untrusted text, authorize the tool calls, match the secret on the way out |
Provenance fencing • Taint propagation • Unicode tag-block smuggling • Encoding closure • OWASP LLM01:2025 Source Code | Docs |
Intermediate Projects
| Project | Info | What You'll Learn |
|---|---|---|
| Security News Scraper Aggregate cybersecurity news |
Web scraping • CVE parsing • Database storage Source Code | Docs |
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| Payload Obfuscation Engine Multi-layer payload obfuscation toolkit |
Obfuscation techniques • Polymorphism • AV evasion • Signature detection Learn More |
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| SIEM Dashboard Log aggregation with correlation |
SIEM concepts • Log correlation • Full-stack development Source Code | Docs |
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| Token Abuse Playground 15+ token vulnerabilities to exploit and fix |
JWT exploitation • OAuth attacks • Session security • Token forensics Learn More |
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| Supply Chain Attack Simulator Fake PyPI package dependency confusion demo |
Supply chain attacks • Dependency confusion • Package security • PyPI internals Learn More |
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| DDoS Mitigation Tool Detect traffic spikes |
DDoS detection • Rate limiting • Anomaly detection Learn More |
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| Secrets Scanner Scan codebases and git history for leaked secrets |
Secret detection • Shannon entropy • HIBP k-anonymity • SARIF output Source Code | Docs |
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| API Security Scanner Enterprise API vulnerability scanner |
OWASP API Top 10 • ML fuzzing • GraphQL/SOAP testing Source Code | Docs |
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| Wireless Deauth Detector Monitor WiFi deauth attacks |
Wireless security • Packet sniffing • Attack detection Learn More |
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| Credential Enumeration Post-exploitation credential collection |
Credential extraction • Browser forensics • Red team tooling • Nim language Source Code | Docs |
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| Binary Analysis Tool Disassemble and analyze executables |
Binary analysis • String extraction • Malware detection Source Code | Docs |
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| Chaos Engineering Security Tool Inject security failures to test resilience |
Chaos engineering • Security resilience • Credential spraying • Auth testing Learn More |
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| Credential Rotation Enforcer Track and enforce credential rotation policies |
Credential hygiene • Secret rotation • Compliance dashboards • API integration Source Code | Docs |
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| Race Condition Exploiter TOCTOU race condition attack & defense lab |
TOCTOU attacks • Double-spend bugs • Concurrent exploitation • Race visualization Learn More |
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| JA3/JA4 TLS Fingerprinting Tool Fingerprint TLS clients by handshake |
TLS handshake analysis • JA3/JA4 hashing • Bot detection • Malware C2 identification Source Code | Docs |
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| Mobile App Security Analyzer Decompile and analyze mobile apps |
APK/IPA analysis • Reverse engineering • OWASP Mobile Learn More |
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| DLP Scanner Data Loss Prevention for files, DBs, and traffic |
PII detection • GDPR/HIPAA compliance • Pattern matching • Data classification Source Code | Docs |
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| Lua/Nginx Edge Backend Full CRUD backend via Lua in Nginx |
Edge computing • OpenResty • Lua scripting • WAF • JWT at the edge Learn More |
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| Privesc Playground 20+ privilege escalation paths to exploit |
SUID exploitation • Sudo abuse • Cron hijacking • GTFOBins • Capability abuse Learn More |
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| SBOM Generator & Vulnerability Matcher Software Bill of Materials with CVE matching |
SPDX/CycloneDX formats • Dependency analysis • CVE databases • EO 14028 compliance Source Code | Docs |
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| Subdomain Takeover Scanner Detect dangling DNS records |
DNS enumeration • CNAME analysis • Cloud resource claiming • Bug bounty Learn More |
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| GraphQL Security Tester Automated GraphQL vulnerability testing |
Introspection attacks • Query depth DoS • Authorization bypass • Batching abuse Learn More |
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| Docker Security Audit CIS Docker Benchmark scanner |
CIS benchmarks • Container security • Multiple output formats Source Code | Docs |
Advanced Projects
| Project | Info | What You'll Learn |
|---|---|---|
| API Rate Limiter Distributed rate limiting middleware |
Token bucket algorithm • Distributed systems • Redis backend Source Code | Docs |
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| Encrypted Chat Application Real-time E2EE messaging |
Signal Protocol • Double Ratchet • WebAuthn • WebSockets Source Code | Docs |
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| Exploit Development Framework Modular exploitation framework |
Exploit development • Payload generation • Plugin architecture Learn More |
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| AI Threat Detection ML-powered nginx threat detection |
ML ensemble (AE + RF + IF) • ONNX inference • Real-time detection Source Code | Docs |
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| Zingela Stateless Scanner Line-rate stateless mass TCP/UDP port scanner |
Stateless SYN scanning • SipHash cookies • Cyclic-group permutation • AF_PACKET / AF_XDP Source Code | Docs |
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| Bug Bounty Platform Full vulnerability disclosure platform |
Full-stack development • CVSS scoring • Workflow automation Source Code | Docs |
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| Cloud Security Compliance Dashboard Multi-cloud compliance with CIS, SOC2, HIPAA |
CIS benchmarks • SOC2/HIPAA compliance • Cost-security optimization • Drift detection Learn More |
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| Malware Analysis Platform Automated sandbox analysis |
Malware analysis • Sandboxing • YARA rules • IOC extraction Learn More |
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| Quantum Resistant Encryption Post-quantum cryptography |
Post-quantum algorithms • Hybrid encryption • Kyber/Dilithium Learn More |
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| Zero Day Vulnerability Scanner Coverage-guided fuzzing |
Keyless harness synthesis • Auto-build under ASAN • AFL++ campaigns • Stack-hash dedup • Magma-validated triage • Disclosure bundles Source Code | Docs |
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| Distributed Password Cracker GPU-accelerated cracking |
Distributed systems • GPU computing • Hash cracking Learn More |
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| Kernel Rootkit Detection Detect kernel-level rootkits |
Kernel internals • Memory forensics • Rootkit detection Learn More |
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| Blockchain Smart Contract Auditor Solidity vulnerability analysis |
Smart contracts • Static analysis • Solidity security Learn More |
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| Adversarial ML Attacker Generate adversarial examples |
Adversarial ML • FGSM/DeepFool • Model robustness Learn More |
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| Reverse-Engineering Reverse-engineering learning platform. |
Reverse Engineering • Disassembly • Dynamic & Static Analysis Source Code | Docs |
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| Hardware Security Module Emulator Software HSM that compiles to a real PKCS#11 .so |
PKCS#11/Cryptoki C ABI (machine-checked vs OASIS headers) • AES-GCM/CBC • RSA/ECDSA/ECDH • Argon2id + encrypted-at-rest • driven by pkcs11-toolSource Code | Docs |
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| Network Covert Channel Data exfiltration techniques |
Covert channels • Data exfiltration • Steganography Learn More |
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| Automated Penetration Testing Full pentest automation |
Pentest automation • Recon to exploitation • Report generation Learn More |
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| Haskell Reverse Proxy Functional reverse proxy with security middleware |
Functional programming • Reverse proxy design • Security middleware • Haskell Source Code |
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| "Monitor the Situation" Dashboard Real-time cyber threat situational awareness |
Threat intel feeds • EPSS/KEV/CVE velocity • BGP hijacks • WebSocket fan-out • 3D globe SOC view Source Code | Docs |
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| Honeypot Network Multi-service honeypot deployment & analysis |
Honeypot deployment • Attacker behavior analysis • IOC extraction • MITRE mapping Source Code | Docs |
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| Supply Chain Security Analyzer Dependency vulnerability analysis |
Supply chain security • Dependency analysis • Malicious packages Learn More |
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Certification Roadmaps - Career paths for SOC Analyst, Pentester, Security Engineer, GRC Analyst, and 6 more tracks
Learning Resources - Tools, courses, certifications, YouTube channels, Reddit communities, and security frameworks
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