INSIGHTS – johnbrown.pro

August 27, 2026 - IT Support System Administrator

Windows Server Centralized File Storage, Departmental Access Control, Automated Drive Mapping & Shadow Copy Recovery

Project: System Administration Portfolio Lab Role: System Administrator Environment: VMware • Windows Server 2019 • Windows 11 Directory Services: Active Directory Domain Services / test.local File Services: SMB File Sharing • NTFS Permissions • Group Policy Drive Maps • Access-Based Enumeration • Volume Shadow Copy Status: Centralized departmental file storage, automated access, access control and […]

August 25, 2026 - Cybersecurity IT Support System Administrator

Windows Server Active Directory Group Policy Administration and Security Hardening

Project: System Administration Portfolio LabRole: System AdministratorEnvironment: VMware Workstation • Windows Server 2019 • Windows 11Domain: test.localOrganizational Structure: JohnBrownSchoolTest User: Harry HTest Workstation: LAPTOP-HR-01Status: Group Policy deployment, troubleshooting and security controls validated Project Overview This lab extends the JohnBrownSchool Active Directory environment by introducing centralized Windows administration through Group Policy. The objective was to use […]

July 11, 2026 - Cybersecurity Networking

Fortigate High Availability (HA) Lab

July 11, 2026 - IT Support Microsoft & Cloud Networking System Administrator

Hybrid Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID & Microsoft 365 Deployment

Hybrid Active Directory, Microsoft Entra ID & Microsoft 365 Deployment Project: — System Administration Portfolio Lab Role: System Administrator Environment: VMware • Windows Server 2019 • Windows 11 Identity Model: On-premises Active Directory synchronized to Microsoft Entra ID Cloud Platform: Microsoft 365 Business Standard Status: Hybrid identity and HR workstation deployment validated Project Overview This […]

July 11, 2026 - Cybersecurity Firewall Networking

FortiManager Administration and Management Lab

🎥 Lab Demonstration This video demonstrates the complete FortiManager Administration and Management lab. During this lab, I configured administrator accounts, implemented administrative access controls, managed ADOM permissions, enabled ADOM locking, performed backup and restore operations, and reviewed system event logs to validate configuration changes. The demonstration highlights practical experience with centralized firewall management, role-based administration, […]

July 11, 2026 - Cybersecurity Networking

Detecting Nmap Network Reconnaissance in a Windows Domain Lab

Role SOC Analyst / Security Researcher Environment VMware Lab Attack NMAP Network Reconnaissance & Detection Lab Detection Wireshark · Security Onion · Splunk Status Successfully Investigated Simulated Nmap reconnaissance against a Windows Server 2019 Active Directory environment and correlated host discovery, port-scanning, service-enumeration, packet-capture, IDS, and network-metadata evidence using Wireshark, Security Onion, Suricata, and Zeek. […]

July 11, 2026 - Cybersecurity

SMB Brute Force Detection & Network Telemetry Analysis

Role SOC Analyst / Security Researcher Environment VMware Lab Attack SMB Brute Force Detection Wireshark · Security Onion · Splunk Status Successfully Investigated Simulated an SMB authentication brute force attack against a Windows Server 2019 Active Directory domain controller and correlated reconnaissance, packet-level SMB/NTLM evidence, Security Onion telemetry, and Windows authentication events in Splunk. PROJECT […]

July 9, 2026 - Cybersecurity

Detecting RDP Brute Force in a Windows Domain Lab

Role SOC Analyst / Security Researcher Environment VMware Lab Attack RDP Brute Force Detection Wireshark · Security Onion · Splunk Status Successfully Investigated Simulated an RDP brute force attack against a Windows Server 2019 domain controller and correlated network, IDS, host, and SIEM evidence using Wireshark, Security Onion, Windows Event Viewer, and Splunk. Project Overview […]