DARKSTAR
Technical Journal
Documenting the build, the problems, the solutions
and everything in between.
Building a DFIR Workflow on a USB
Guided investigations, accountable case records, safe retention and scoped validation for COC USB #2.
DFIR workflow illustration
Building a USB Technician Toolkit I Can Trust
Custom PowerShell automation, an offline playbook and evidence-based release checks for COC USB #1.
Windows workstation illustration
Building Project Hestia into a Platform I Can Explain
Bringing requests, library automation and playback together on Atlas—and documenting the boundaries before adding more services.
Self-hosted media illustration
Hardening Active Directory Before the Attack
Delegated administration, machine-account quota hardening, Tier-0 restrictions, advanced auditing, multihomed DNS troubleshooting and a clean pre-attack restore point.
Identity lab illustration
Building the AI Job Search Automation Platform
Deterministic safety gates, grounded generation, reviewer critique, and the security review that caught my own overbroad privilege design before it shipped.
Workflow automation illustration
Building a Secure Serverless IT Help Desk on AWS
Completing Family IT Help Desk v0.2 with authenticated administration, backend-enforced security controls and a validated end-to-end ticket lifecycle.
Serverless application illustrationCompleting My First AWS Cloud Engineering Lab Series
Budgets, EC2, Bedrock, Lambda, Aurora PostgreSQL—and the debugging that made the application work.
Serverless application illustrationBuilding a Modern Active Directory Attack-and-Defense Lab
Windows Server 2025, privilege separation, AGDLP, managed service identities and Kerberos practice.
Identity lab illustrationBuilding a Family IT Help Desk on AWS
Authenticated tickets, DynamoDB persistence, admin status management and a validated end-to-end lifecycle.
Serverless application illustration
Completing Phase 9: Private File Access and Sync
Nextcloud on Atlas with recovery, security and reboot-persistence validation.
Private file-sync illustrationFinishing and Hardening Project Atlas v1
Turning an older Latitude into an operational Ubuntu server with resilient recovery.
Private file-sync illustration
Earning the AWS Certified AI Practitioner
Using the blueprint and practice evidence to turn weak areas into a focused study plan.
Technical study illustrationBuilding a Certification Lifecycle Manager That Won't Remind Me Twice
Renewal rules, authenticated updates, duplicate-resistant reminders and auditable delivery.
Technical study illustrationBuilding a Cybersecurity News Pipeline I’ll Actually Use
Eight security feeds turned into one ranked daily briefing.
Workflow automation illustrationWhy I'm Building a Home Cyber Operations Center
How a smaller lab idea became the backbone of a cybersecurity learning program.
Private file-sync illustrationBuilding the Cyber Operations Center Engineering Program
Moving from isolated projects to one documented engineering system.
Identity lab illustrationHardening My Own Endpoints Before Pretending to Defend Everyone Else's
Controls, compromises and validation across the endpoint baseline.
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A first-person record of personal projects. Recorded results and open work remain separate.