Notes from the bench.

Findings, post-mortems, scanner walkthroughs and the occasional opinion. Written by the operators on the engagement, not by the marketing team. No template-driven slop.

FIELD NOTES POST-MORTEMS REPRODUCERS SOC PLAYBOOKS
36 results page 01 of 06
WordPress Security:  Step by Step Guide Uncategorized
12 min
2022-06-22

WordPress Security: Step by Step Guide

Why WordPress powers so much of the web and how to lock it down — a step-by-step guide to securing the CMS that runs your site.

by Vadim L Read
Comprehensive Guide to Black Box Penetration Testing: Techniques, Tools, and Best Practices Uncategorized
12 min
2024-11-17

Comprehensive Guide to Black Box Penetration Testing: Techniques, Tools, and Best Practices

A comprehensive black box penetration testing playbook — the techniques, tools and best practices that make external, zero-knowledge assessments effective, plus the challenges to expect.

by Vadim L Read
Understanding White Box Penetration Testing Uncategorized
9 min
2023-07-27

Understanding White Box Penetration Testing

A deep dive into white box penetration testing — testing with full knowledge of a system's internals, why that matters, and how it hardens infrastructure from the inside out.

by Vadim L Read
Prompt Injection and Prompt Monitoring: An Attacker’s View AI Security
1 min
2026-05-30

Prompt Injection and Prompt Monitoring: An Attacker’s View

Prompt injection lets attacker-controlled text override an LLM's instructions to exfiltrate data or abuse tools. Here is how the attacks work and how to catch them in production.

by Vadim L Read
Best Laptop Computers for Cyber Security Cyber Security
10 min
2023-07-26

Best Laptop Computers for Cyber Security

What to look for in a machine built for security work — the specs, hardware and advanced features that make a laptop fit for hacking, testing and data handling.

by Vadim L Read
Vulnerability Testing for Business Owners Uncategorized
7 min
2023-07-27

Vulnerability Testing for Business Owners

A business-focused guide to vulnerability testing — what it is, how the process works, the tools involved and why it sits at the heart of a solid security strategy.

by Vadim L Read

Written by the operators
on the engagement.

We publish what we'd want to read on the train home. Reproducers, post-mortems, the occasional opinion. If a piece doesn't survive a peer review by the bench, it doesn't ship.

36
articles published
since 2022-03
6
topics covered
cyber security · security · uncategorized · penetration test
1.2/wk
publishing cadence
tracked over last 26 weeks
12min
median read time
we write the long version