There is a Slack workspace for Computer Science students here at PSU. If you haven't already, create a Slack account, join the workspace at https://pdx-cs.slack.com and add the course channel linked on the course web page. All course communication will be done through this platform; check the pinned section for important updates. Note that the course has a corresponding webpage for more permanent information.

Tasks

• Visit the MCECS Gitlab site and create a private GitLab repo called introsec-<CECS> (replace <CECS> with your actual MCECS username) and clone it to your local machine. You will be using this repo for the rest of the term. This repo exists on the CECS intranet, and uses your CECS credentials for authentication.
• Add wuchang and jsimonds as a member (developer or higher) of your repo. This will allow us to view your repo and provide feedback.
• Create an initial submission for the lab.

mkdir notebooks
touch notebooks/Labs1.pdf
git add notebooks
git commit -m "initial commit"
git push

git basics

Read the first 6 steps of the following link. Note that for this class, you will be substituting Gitlab for GitHub. You will need to become proficient with the following git commands for this course or use an IDE such as VSCode that can perform the operations for you.

• git clone : Fetch a copy of a remote repository
• git add : Add a new file and/or directory to local repository
• git commit : Commit changes to local repository
• git push : Merge changes from local repository to a remote one. Implicitly assumes "origin" (place that you retrieved repo from) and "main" (branch)
• git pull : Merge changes from remote repository to your local one. Implicitly assumes "origin" (place that you retrieved repo from) and "main" (branch)

Incognito mode

To avoid applying the coupon you receive to the incorrect account, ensure that these steps are done in an "Incognito" or "Private Browsing" browser window to set up your account.

Then, visit https://console.cloud.google.com and login using your pdx.edu account to enable GCP. If you haven't used GCP yet and do not mind temporarily putting your credit card on the account, apply for the $300 coupon and use it to create a new billing account. Otherwise, wait for the instructor to email you a course coupon.

Create Project

Click on the pdx.edu organization from the console.

Then, click on "New Project"

Create a Google Cloud project with your ProjectName from above. You should be taken to your project's Home page. For your lab notebook, you will need to ensure that all of your screenshots for your Google Cloud labs include your ProjectName.

To examine your Billing account and its usage, go to the Billing page from the console at https://console.cloud.google.com/billing

Set up a VM running the course Kali Linux VM. Log into your Google Cloud Platform account and go to your project's console.

Option #1: Cloud Shell

Click on the Cloud Shell icon from the web console shown below:

Create two firewall rules to allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic.

gcloud compute firewall-rules create default-allow-http \
  --allow=tcp:80 --target-tags=http-server

gcloud compute firewall-rules create default-allow-https \
  --allow=tcp:443 --target-tags=https-server

Then, run the command below to find the most recent version of the Kali VM image on the course's GCP project.

gcloud compute images list \
  --project cs491-introsec-346418 --no-standard-images

Launch the latest Kali VM image using the gcloud command below, attaching the two rules to allow web traffic to it.

gcloud compute instances create kali-vm \
  --machine-type e2-medium --zone us-west1-b \
  --image-project cs491-introsec-346418 \
  --image kali-rolling-latest

gcloud compute instances add-tags kali-vm --tags=http-server,https-server

Finally, perform the command below to ssh into the VM instance after it comes up to ensure you can access it.

gcloud compute ssh kali-vm

Option #2: Web UI

• Go to Compute Engine in Google Cloud Console → Compute Engine → VM Instances and create a new instance
• For the Boot Disk, click "Change", then in the upper tab click "Custom images"
• Click on "SELECT A PROJECT" and select from "PDX.EDU". Select cs491-introsec and open it.

• Click on the "Image" field, then select the kali-rolling-latest image.
• Finally, allow HTTP and HTTPS traffic for the VM, then create it.

Keep track of both the external and internal IP address of each instance. We will be using the internal IP address for the attacks, but will need to connect via the external IP addresses initially.

• kali_external_IP, kali_internal_IP

Finally, ssh into your Kali VM instance to ensure you can access it.

TryHackMe is a widely-used security training site that focuses on developing practical, hands-on skills for its users. The site is organized in "rooms" that contain lab content for users to complete to obtain badges. We will be using several of the site's free rooms as part of the course.

Visit the site at https://tryhackme.com/ and create an account. If you find the exercises useful, consider a subscription to the site to continue your development after the course.

Throughout the course, we will be using the free rooms of TryHackMe to get you started on various security topics. Some of the TryHackMe rooms will launch machines on TryHackMe for you to work with. In order to access these machines easily, TryHackMe provides VPN support. Both Portland State and TryHackMe have support for the freely available OpenVPN client. The OpenVPN client is installed on all MCECS lab machines.

Visit your first TryHackMe room at https://tryhackme.com/room/openvpn and complete it using the machine you intend to work from for the course.

Join the following room on TryHackMe: https://tryhackme.com/r/room/securityprinciples . The room covers the fundamental security principles. Complete the first 3 tasks for this room.

• Take a screenshot showing that the first 3 tasks of the room have been completed that includes your OdinID for your first lab notebook

Save your notebook as a PDF as notebooks/Labs1.pdf, then add, commit, and push your lab notebook to your repository.

git add notebooks/Labs1.pdf
git commit -m "first lab"
git push