SOC Analyst in Training

Nishant
Sharma

Building an enterprise-grade SOC lab from scratch — Active Directory, Elastic SIEM, Suricata IDS, TheHive SOAR, and AI-assisted threat detection. Pursuing SOC L1.

Lab: Active
CDSA Exam: Preparing
Open to Opportunities
elastic-kibana — ssh
# SOC Lab Status Check
$ systemctl status elasticsearch
elasticsearch.service — active (running)
$ curl localhost:5601/api/status
{"status":"green","alerts":3}
$ cat /var/log/suricata/fast.log | tail -2
[**] ET SCAN Nmap Stealth [**]
[**] LSASS memory access detected [**]
$ python3 ioc_enrich.py --ip 185.220.101.5
VT: 47 detections | Abuse: 98% | MALICIOUS
$

Who I Am

I am a cybersecurity student at Parul University with 4 years of security study, now seriously pursuing a career in Security Operations for the last 6 weeks.

I built a fully functional enterprise SOC home lab from scratch — dual domain controllers, multi-subnet AD environment, hybrid cloud connectivity via Tailscale, and a full detection stack using Elastic SIEM, Suricata IDS, Zeek, TheHive SOAR, and Sysmon.

I operate both the red and blue sides of my lab — I run attack simulations using Atomic Red Team and Kali Linux, then investigate and document every detection as a formal incident report. I understand attacks from both the attacker's and defender's perspective.

Currently preparing for the HTB CDSA exam and CompTIA Security+. Targeting a SOC Analyst L1 role.

Active Directory & Windows Server85%
Elastic SIEM / KQL Detection Rules75%
Network Security / OPNsense / Suricata70%
Incident Response / SOAR / TheHive65%
Python Scripting for SOC Automation40%
HTB CDSA
⟳ Exam prep — path complete
CompTIA Security+
⟳ 98% course done
CompTIA CySA+
◌ Planned — Month 3
Microsoft SC-200
◌ Planned — Month 5
CompTIA Network+
⟳ Studied — Udemy course
📍  Vadodara, Gujarat, India
🎓  Parul University — Cybersecurity
🎯  Target role: SOC Analyst L1
⏱  Seriously studying: 6 weeks
🖥  Lab VMs: 6+ (on-prem + Azure cloud)
📋  Incident reports written: 10+

Lab Architecture

A real enterprise simulation — multi-subnet AD environment connected to hybrid Azure cloud, with full-stack detection from host to network layer.

On-Premises Network — 3 Subnets
OPNsense
Gateway + Firewall
DHCP Relay + Routing
Suricata IDS + Zeek
DC01 (Primary)
Domain Controller
AD DS + DNS
192.168.10.10
DC02 (Backup)
Backup DC
AD Replication
192.168.10.11
SRV-DHCP/DNS
DHCP Server
DNS Resolver
192.168.20.1
FILE-SRV01
File Server
Shared folders
GPO mapped drives
KALI-ELASTIC
Elastic + Kibana
SIEM + Detection
Bridge network
Azure Cloud — Hybrid
WIN-AZURE
Windows Server
Fleet Agent + Sysmon
Tailscale connected
UBUNTU-HIVE
TheHive + Cortex
SOAR + IOC enrichment
VirusTotal / AbuseIPDB
TAILSCALE VPN
Cloud ↔ On-Prem
Encrypted mesh tunnel
6+
VMs Deployed
3
Network Subnets
15+
Detection Rules
10+
Attack Simulations
5
IR Playbooks
2
SIEM Platforms

Technical Skills

🛡
SIEM & Detection
Built 15+ custom Elastic detection rules mapped to MITRE ATT&CK. KQL/EQL query writing, dashboard design, alert triage workflow.
Elastic SIEM KQL Kibana Microsoft Sentinel Logstash
🏢
Active Directory
Designed and operate dual DC environment. GPO management, OU structure, DHCP/DNS, Kerberos/NTLM authentication, AD attack surface knowledge.
AD DS GPO Kerberos DNS/DHCP NTLM
🌐
Network Security
OPNsense firewall/router with multi-subnet routing. Suricata IDS with ET Open rules. Zeek network metadata logging. Tailscale VPN mesh.
OPNsense Suricata Zeek Tailscale Firewall Rules
🔴
Attack Simulation
Ran 10+ MITRE ATT&CK technique simulations using Atomic Red Team and Kali Linux tools. Operated both red and blue sides of every scenario.
Atomic Red Team Kali Linux Mimikatz CrackMapExec Responder
📋
Incident Response
Built 5 IR playbooks in TheHive. Full SOC workflow: alert → auto-case → IOC enrichment → investigation → formal incident report → closure.
TheHive Cortex PICERL VirusTotal API AbuseIPDB
🤖
AI-Assisted SOC
Elastic AI Assistant for alert investigation. LLM-assisted KQL writing and IR report drafting. Understanding UEBA and behavioral analytics concepts.
Elastic AI MS Sentinel Copilot UEBA LLM for SOC

The Project

One main project — an enterprise SOC environment built and operated entirely by me, from network design to threat detection to incident response.

Enterprise SOC Home Lab
Multi-subnet AD + Hybrid Cloud + Full Detection Stack + SOAR
Active Expanding
Built a fully functional enterprise-grade security operations environment from scratch. Designed the network topology, deployed all infrastructure, configured detection tools, ran attack simulations, and documented every finding as formal incident reports.
AD Environment
Dual DC, DHCP, DNS, File Server, multi-subnet, GPO
✓ Complete
SIEM Stack
Elastic + Kibana + Sysmon + Fleet Agent on all hosts
✓ Complete
Cloud Integration
Azure VMs connected via Tailscale VPN mesh
✓ Complete
Detection Rules
15+ KQL rules mapped to MITRE ATT&CK framework
⟳ In progress
SOAR Integration
TheHive + Cortex + Elastalert2 auto-case creation
⟳ In progress
Attack Simulations Documented
MITRE ID Technique Tool Used Detection
T1003.001 LSASS Credential Dump Mimikatz Elastic Event ID 10 rule
T1110.001 Password Spray CrackMapExec Brute force rule — TheHive case
T1021.002 Lateral Movement SMB PsExec Event ID 7045 + network log
T1557.001 LLMNR Poisoning Responder Zeek DNS + Suricata alert
T1059.001 PowerShell Encoded Cmd Atomic Red Team Encoded command KQL rule
T1053.005 Scheduled Task Persistence Atomic Red Team Event ID 4698 detection

Currently Learning

Skills and tools I am actively studying or planning to implement next in my lab.

01
Microsoft Defender XDR
Defender for Endpoint + Defender for Identity on my AD environment. Learning SC-200 exam content alongside implementation.
Active
02
HTB CDSA Exam
Completed the full Certified Defensive Security Analyst path on HackTheBox. Currently revising and preparing to sit the exam.
Active
03
Python for SOC
Building IOC enrichment scripts using VirusTotal, AbuseIPDB, and Shodan APIs to automate threat intelligence lookups.
Active
04
Threat Hunting
Using MITRE ATT&CK Navigator to identify detection gaps, then building KQL hunting queries to search for uncovered techniques.
Soon
05
Elastic ML & UEBA
Enabling anomaly detection jobs in Elastic for behavioral baselines — login time analysis, data volume anomalies, process behavior.
Soon
06
CompTIA CySA+
SOC analyst specific certification. Planning to sit this exam after CDSA and Security+ are complete — target Month 3.
Planned
07
Microsoft SC-200
Microsoft Security Operations Analyst certification covering Sentinel, Defender XDR, and KQL. Target Month 5.
Planned
08
Velociraptor / DFIR
Digital forensics and live endpoint investigation using Velociraptor. Real incident responders use this for active investigations.
Planned