Skip to main content

Using Vagrant to Build a Manageable and Sharable Intrusion Detection Lab

This paper investigates how the Vagrant software application can be used by Information Security (InfoSec) professionals looking to provide their audience with an infrastructure environment to accompany their research. InfoSec professionals conducting research or publishing write-ups can provide opportunities for their audience to replicate or walk through the research themselves in their own environment. Vagrant is a popular DevOps tool for providing portable and repeatable production environments for application developers, and may solve the needs of the InfoSec professional. This paper will investigate how Vagrant works, the pros and cons of the technology, and how it is typically used. The paper describes how to build or repurpose three environments, highlighting different features of Vagrant. Finally, the paper will discuss lessons learned.

37292 (PDF, 4.07MB)

20 Sep 2016
ByShaun McCullough
Share
All papers are copyrighted

No re-posting of papers is permitted

Related Content

Beyond the Tunnel: A Lab-Based Comparative Evaluation of Network-Layer VPN and Identity-Aware Reverse Proxy Architectures Against the CISA Zero Trust Maturity Model

Research Paper

For the Applications and Data pillars, the results depend primarily on the security features bundled with each product and its platform, and the two architectures converge on Identity because both draw their authentication strength from the same identity provider. The study contributes a repeatable methodology and a scored matrix that shows where the architectures genuinely diverge.

  • 17 Sep 2026
  • Henry Cheung

Assessing the Feasibility and Effectiveness of AI in CTI-Driven Threat Hunting

Research Paper

This study evaluates three commercial LLMs, OpenAI GPT-4o, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot, against ten recent CTI reports, measuring indicator extraction accuracy and validating generated Kusto Query Language (KQL) and CrowdStrike Query Language (CQL) hunting queries in Microsoft Sentinel and CrowdStrike NG-SIEM.

  • 17 Sep 2026
  • Devron West

The Invisible Checkpoint: Passive LTE Traffic Capture for Mobile Malware Detection

Research Paper

This paper presents a privacy-preserving, field-deployable framework for passive mobile malware detection.

  • 11 Aug 2026
  • Garo Sinanian

Evaluating LLMs as a Bridge Between Cyber Threats and Business Risk for Executive Decision-Making

Research Paper

Security leaders cannot act on intelligence they cannot understand, yet most cyber threat intelligence (CTI) reporting is written for analysts, not executives.

  • 11 Aug 2026
  • Arcadio Aguilar

Entra ID Governance: Insta-IAM/IGA Solution?

Research Paper

This research evaluates the viability of using Entra ID Governance as a primary IAM/IGA solution through a proof-of-concept implementation modeled on a moderately complex organization with multiple systems of record.

  • 6 Aug 2026
  • Scott Fortin

Evaluating the Detection Effectiveness of Network Monitoring Tools Against Modern Command-and-Control Frameworks

Research Paper

This research measures the effectiveness of Zeek, Suricata, and Security Onion against representative modern C2 frameworks in a controlled laboratory environment.

  • 9 Jul 2026
  • Joseph Zderadicka

Practical MFA for the Enterprise: Enforcing Strong Authentication for Non-Human Identities Using Compensating Controls

Research Paper

This paper’s case study examined a production Microsoft Entra ID environment at a large North American organization encompassing more than 500 app registrations and 21,000 directory accounts.

  • 9 Jul 2026
  • Fredrick Stock

Cyber Intelligence GraphRAGs for Behavioral Detection

Research Paper

This paper introduces chatAPT, a prototype graphRAG system that extends a hybrid dual-retrieval architecture with domain-contextualized extraction, ontologies, and entity alignment, and exposes tools that enable human analysts and AI agents to query enriched threat intelligence during hypothesis generation.

  • 9 Jul 2026
  • Robert Heald

USB: Universal Security Breach or Uniquely Secured Bus? Assessing the Effectiveness of Windows 11 Group Policy at Controlling USB Device Installation for Budget-Constrained Security Teams

Research Paper

This study evaluates three progressively granular Windows 11 Group Policy (GPO) configurations—class-based blocking, VID/PID allowlisting, and Device Instance ID allowlisting—against legitimate business peripherals and a Hak5 USB Rubber Ducky configured as a composite BadUSB device, using the Windows 11 v25H2 Security Baseline as the unmodified reference state.

  • 22 Jun 2026
  • Kire Jacobson

Investigating Operating System Variations in IPv6 Implementations

Research Paper

This research tested the four most common operating system families, Windows, Linux, macOS, and BSD, for RFC compliance and behavioral differences across a controlled set of IPv6 test cases. Because RFC specifications leave many implementation details to the developer, behavior was expected to diverge, and the testing confirmed that it did.

  • 22 Jun 2026
  • Donovan Rodriguez

macOS Infostealer Exfiltration Techniques via Native Tooling: Behavioral Analysis and Defenses

Research Paper

This paper analyzes macOS infostealers and their reliance on native system utilities. The use of specific command-line options and arguments should be predictable and detectable with proper analysis.

  • 22 Jun 2026
  • Cory Findley

Untested: An Overlooked Link in the Software Supply Chain

Research Paper

This research explores test code as an attack surface and takes a first step toward creating a tool to help analysts detect and mitigate malware lurking in test libraries.

  • 16 Apr 2026
  • Evan Ottinger

Cyber Risk Intelligence and Security Posture (CRISP): From Compliance to Threat-Informed Intelligence

Research Paper

This paper presents CRISP (Cyber Risk Intelligence & Security Posture), a platform that automates the transformation of STIG compliance data into threat-informed security intelligence.

  • 7 Apr 2026
  • Eric Kaden

Operationalizing CTEM within the SOC: A Proactive Approach to Threat Detection and Response

Research Paper

With either an in-house or an outsourced approach, organizations invest in a security operations center (SOC) to perform threat detection, investigation, and response. SOCs may also leverage threat hunting to identify threats earlier and proactively reduce risk.

  • 1 Apr 2026
  • Jay Yaneza

Enhancing Linux Threat Detection: A Sysmon - Based Approach to Identifying Sandworm TTPs

Research Paper

Linux systems have become foundational across modern IT enterprises. Threat actors are increasingly targeting Linux systems, including well - known advanced persistent threats (APTs) such as Sandworm.

  • 20 Mar 2026
  • Joshua Keller

Open-Source National Security Infrastructure for Sweden’s National Security Apparatus

Research Paper

This paper investigates whether core IT infrastructure implemented using open-source software and infrastructure-as-code techniques can achieve compliance with selected information security requirements defined in Chapter 4 of PMFS 2022:1.

  • 18 Mar 2026
  • Fredrik Bolinder

Configuring Windows 11 Workgroup Computers to CIS Windows 11 L1 and BitLocker Baseline Recommendations Using PowerShell DSC

Research Paper

Endpoints are often the first points of cyberattacks. Enterprises would often try to harden them according to established security baselines, such as those published by the Center for Internet Security (CIS).

  • 24 Feb 2026
  • Tan Gui De

Infrastructure as Code-Driven Group Policy Infrastructure: A Comprehensive Engine for Group Policy Architecture and Enforcement

Research Paper

This study introduces a PowerShell-based Infrastructure as Code (IaC) engine developed to automate the setup and enforcement of a STIG-compliant Group Policy framework.

  • 5 Dec 2025
  • Garland Brown

Defending Vulnerable Populations Against Scams: Effectiveness of Browser Extensions in Mitigating Scammer Attack Chains

Research Paper

This research evaluates the effectiveness of a browser extension as a security control—Grandma’s Guardian—designed for simplicity and accessibility so that even non-technical home users can benefit from enterprise-grade protection.

  • 19 Nov 2025
  • Thomas Gorman

Building Scalable Detection-as-Code Pipelines with Agentic Validation and Refinement

Research Paper

The proposed DaC pipeline uses large language models (LLMs) for logic conversion, variant analysis, and simulation testing via Atomic Red Team, with queries executed against Splunk to measure true positives and false negatives.

  • 6 Nov 2025
  • Benjamin Opel