How to Use VirusTotal: A Beginner’s Guide to Checking Files & Links
You’ve just received a strange email with an attachment you weren’t expecting. You know from our guide to spotting phishing attacks that you should never open it blindly. So, what’s the next step? Before you delete it, you can investigate it like a security professional. The first and most important tool for this job is […]
The 5 Best Cybersecurity Books for Beginners (2025 Reading List)
Online courses and hands-on labs are essential for learning practical skills, but some of the best foundational knowledge still comes from well-written books. For anyone new to the field, finding the best cybersecurity books for beginners can be a challenge, as the market is flooded with thousands of options. To help you get started, we’ve […]
How to Start a Career in Cybersecurity (A Beginner’s Roadmap)
Cybersecurity is one of the fastest-growing and most exciting fields in technology. But for a beginner, it can seem intimidating. Where do you even begin? Do you need to be a master coder to get started? The good news is that there is a clear path for anyone with a passion for technology to enter […]
Nmap for Beginners: A Simple Guide to Your First Network Scan
Congratulations on setting up your first hacking lab! You now have a powerful environment, but a lab is useless without tools. It’s time to pick up your first and most essential one: Nmap. Nmap (Network Mapper) is arguably the most famous and fundamental tool in all of cybersecurity. It’s used by ethical hackers, system administrators, […]
How to Set Up Your First Hacking Lab: A Beginner’s Guide
So far on CyberTerminal, we’ve covered the essential concepts of cybersecurity—from understanding malware to using a VPN. Now, it’s time to take the most exciting step in your journey: moving from theory to practice. Welcome to your first hands-on project: building a personal hacking lab. Before you get the wrong idea, a “hacking lab” is […]
What Does a Firewall Protect Against? (A Simple Guide)
You’ve probably heard that you need a firewall to be safe online, but what does a firewall actually do? Think of a firewall as the security guard standing at the gate of your computer network. Its only job is to inspect every piece of data trying to get in or out and decide if it’s […]
What is Google Cloud Platform (GCP)? A Beginner’s Guide
Do you use Google Search, watch YouTube videos, or send emails with Gmail? If so, you’re using one of the most powerful computer networks on the planet. Google Cloud Platform (GCP) gives you the chance to use that same world-class technology for your own projects. This guide will explain what Google Cloud is in simple […]
What is Microsoft Azure? A Beginner’s Guide
In our last guide, we explored the dominant leader of the cloud market, Amazon Web Services (AWS). But the world of cloud computing is not a one-horse race. The fastest growing and most powerful challenger is Microsoft Azure. Azure is the cloud computing platform from Microsoft, and it has become the backbone for countless businesses, […]
What is AWS? A Beginner’s Guide to Amazon Web Services
When you stream a movie on Netflix, browse photos on Reddit, or use countless other major websites and apps, you are using Amazon Web Services (AWS). It is the massive, invisible engine that powers a huge portion of the modern internet. For anyone new to tech, understanding AWS is a crucial first step into the […]
How to Create Strong Passwords (and Actually Remember Them)
In our digital lives, we are protected by a series of secret keys: our passwords. They guard everything from our private emails to our financial information. Yet, the most common mistake people make online is using weak, predictable, and reused passwords. Hackers love weak passwords because they are easy to guess with automated software. But […]
