joe-shenouda/awesome-cyber-skills

A curated list of hacking environments where you can train your cyber skills legally and safely

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awesome-cyber-skills

๐Ÿ›ก๏ธ awesome-cyber-skills

A curated list of hacking environments where you can train your cyber skills free, legally and safely.

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๐Ÿ‘‹ Welcome

Welcome to awesome-cyber-skills โ€” your one-stop library for free, legal, and safe places to train your cybersecurity skills.

๐Ÿ“‘ Table of Contents

๐Ÿ“– About the List

[!NOTE] In the field of Information Security, understanding the enemy, the hacker, is crucial. By knowing your enemy, you can effectively defend and secure the digital world.

[!TIP] "Know the enemy, and you can defeat the enemy."

In the USA, even high-ranking retired police officers continue to advise residents on how to better secure their homes. They visit houses and identify weak points, sharing their knowledge of the criminals' techniques to help prevent break-ins.

To hone your cybersecurity skills, you need to keep your hacking skills up-to-date. To achieve this, a safe, legal, and free environment is necessary for practice.

This list compiles websites that offer various opportunities to practice your cyber skills. Each site has a unique approach, and a brief description is provided to highlight its focus.

  • ๐Ÿ“˜ Some sites offer tutorials to guide you
  • ๐Ÿงญ Others encourage self-directed exploration
  • ๐Ÿ”„ The list is regularly updated โ€” bookmark it or watch for new sites

If you are missing a site not mentioned in the list, feel free to contribute.

๐Ÿ—‚๏ธ Categories

EmojiCategorySites
๐ŸŒWeb Application Security41
๐Ÿ”Cryptography2
๐Ÿ”Reverse Engineering16
๐ŸŽฏCTF / Wargame31
๐Ÿ›ก๏ธBlue Team / DFIR / SOC3
โ˜๏ธCloud Security1
๐Ÿ“ฑMobile Security4
๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธSystem / Network / Exploitation8
๐ŸงฐTutorial / Course / Knowledge11
๐ŸŽฎMisc / Game2

โš–๏ธ Difficulty Levels

BadgeLevelBest for
๐ŸŸขBeginnerJust starting in security โ€” guided tutorials, friendly walkthroughs, low-stakes CTFs
๐ŸŸกIntermediateHave basics down โ€” real CTFs, full vulnerable apps, blue-team investigations
๐Ÿ”ดAdvancedSignificant expertise โ€” kernel exploitation, custom reversing, deep system internals

๐Ÿš€ The Sites

[!IMPORTANT] Every site in this list is 100% free, legal, and safe to practice on. Each entry is tagged with a category emoji and a difficulty badge (๐ŸŸข Beginner / ๐ŸŸก Intermediate / ๐Ÿ”ด Advanced).

Use the categories legend below or Ctrl+F to jump to what you need.

#Site nameCategoryDifficultyDescription
1Bug Bounty Hunter๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Free training platform created by bug bounty hunter zseano, teaching how to find and report web application vulnerabilities in real bug-bounty programs.
2bWAPP๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกbuggy web application, is a free and open source deliberately insecure web application. It helps security enthusiasts, developers and students to discover and to prevent web vulnerabilities. bWAPP prepares one to conduct successful penetration testing and ethical hacking projects.
3Commix testbed๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกA collection of web pages, vulnerable to command injection flaws.
4Damn Small Vulnerable Web๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกDamn Small Vulnerable Web (DSVW) is a deliberately vulnerable web application written in under 100 lines of code, created for educational purposes. It supports the majority of (most popular) web application vulnerabilities together with appropriate attacks.
5Damn Vulnerable Android App๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขDamn Vulnerable Android App (DVAA) is an Android application which contains intentional vulnerabilities.
6Damn Vulnerable Hybrid Mobile App๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขDamn Vulnerable Hybrid Mobile App (DVHMA) is a hybrid mobile app (for Android) that intentionally contains vulnerabilities.
7Damn Vulnerable iOS App๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขDamn Vulnerable iOS App (DVIA) is an iOS application that is damn vulnerable.
8Damn Vulnerable Linux๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกDamn Vulnerable Linux (DVL) is everything a good Linux distribution isn't. Its developers have spent hours stuffing it with broken, ill-configured, outdated, and exploitable software that makes it vulnerable to attacks.
9Damn Vulnerable Stateful Web App๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกShort and simple vulnerable PHP web application that naรฏve scanners found to be perfectly safe.
10Damn Vulnerable Thick Client App๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกDVTA is a Vulnerable Thick Client Application developed in C# .NET with many vulnerabilities.
11Damn Vulnerable Web App๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขDamn Vulnerable Web Application (DVWA) is a PHP/MySQL web application that is damn vulnerable. Its main goal is to be an aid for security professionals to test their skills and tools in a legal environment, help web developers better understand the processes of securing web applications and to aid both students & teachers to learn about web application security in a controlled class room environment.
12Damn Vulnerable Web Services๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกDamn Vulnerable Web Services is an insecure web application with multiple vulnerable web service components that can be used to learn real-world web service vulnerabilities.
13Damn Vulnerable Web Sockets๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกDamn Vulnerable Web Sockets (DVWS) is a vulnerable web application which works on web sockets for client-server communication.
14Damnvulnerable.me๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกA deliberately vulnerable modern-day app with lots of DOM-related bugs.
15exploit.co.il Vulnerable Web App๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกexploit.co.il Vulnerable Web app designed as a learning platform to test various SQL injection Techniques.
16Hackademic๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกOffers realistic scenarios full of known vulnerabilities (especially, of course, the OWASP Top Ten) for those trying to practice their attack skills.
17Hackazon๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกA modern vulnerable web app.
18Hacker101๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸข๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Free web-security class from HackerOne with videos, write-ups, and an always-on Capture the Flag to practice your bug-bounty skills.
19Hacksplaining๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขSecurity Training for Developers.
20HackTricks๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” A free cybersecurity knowledge base with practical pentesting, red-team, web, cloud, binary exploitation, and privilege-escalation techniques, contributed by the community.
21Hackxor๐ŸŒ๐Ÿ”ดHackxor is a web app hacking game where players must locate and exploit vulnerabilities to progress through the story. Think WebGoat but with a plot and a focus on realism&difficulty. Contains XSS, CSRF, SQLi, ReDoS, DOR, command injection, etc.
22Java Vulnerable Lab๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกVulnerable Java based Web Application.
23Mutillidae๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขOWASP Mutillidae II is a free, open source, deliberately vulnerable web application providing a target for web-security enthusiast.
24OWASP Mutillidae II๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขOWASP Mutillidae II is a free, open source, deliberately vulnerable web-application providing a target for web-security enthusiast.
25OWASP SiteGenerator๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกOWASP SiteGenerator allows the creating of dynamic websites based on XML files and predefined vulnerabilities (some simple, some complex) covering .Net languages and web development architectures (for example, navigation: Html, Javascript, Flash, Java, etc...).
26Pentesterlab๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกThis exercise explains how you can, from a SQL injection, gain access to the administration console, then in the administration console, how you can run commands on the system.
27Pentest-Ground๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกPentest-Ground is a free playground with deliberately vulnerable web applications and network services.
28Peruggia๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกPeruggia is designed as a safe, legal environment to learn about and try common attacks on web applications. Peruggia looks similar to an image gallery but contains several controlled vulnerabilities to practice on.
29PortSwigger Web Security Academy๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Free online training center for web application security from PortSwigger, with hands-on labs covering topics like XSS, SQL injection, SSRF, authentication, and deserialization.
30Puzzlemall๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกPuzzleMall - A vulnerable web application for practicing session puzzling.
31SentinelTestbed๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกVulnerable website. Used to test sentinel features.
32SocketToMe๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขSocketToMe SocketToMe is little application for testing web sockets.
33SQLI labs๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขSQLI labs to test error based, Blind boolean based, Time based.
34Sqlilabs๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขLab set-up for learning SQL Injection Techniques.
35Stanford SecuriBench / Securibench Micro๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกStanford SecuriBench / Securibench Micro is a series of small test cases designed to excercise different parts of a static security analyzer. Each test case in Securibench Micro comes with an answer, which simplifies the comparison process.
36techlogia Lab๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸข๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” techlogia Lab is a free, browser-based hacking lab teaching Linux server hardening, OWASP Top 10 web security, and GDPR-aware operations. Built for vocational schools and self-learners in the EU. Fully isolated VMs hosted in Germany, no install required, no tracking. Content licensed under CC-BY 4.0.
37The ButterFly - Security Project๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกThe ButterFly project is an educational environment intended to give an insight into common web application and PHP vulnerabilities. The environment also includes examples demonstrating how such vulnerabilities are mitigated.
38Vulnerable Node๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกA very vulnerable web site written in NodeJS to explore various vulnerabilities.
39WackoPicko๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกWackoPicko is a vulnerable web application used to test web application vulnerability scanners.
40Web Security Dojo๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกWeb Security Dojo is a preconfigured, stand-alone training environment for Web Application Security.
41XSS-game๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขIn this training program, you will learn to find and exploit XSS bugs. You'll use this knowledge to confuse and infuriate your adversaries by preventing such bugs from happening in your applications.
42XVWA๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกXVWA is a badly coded web application written in PHP/MySQL that helps security enthusiasts to learn application security.
43CryptoHack๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸข๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” A free, fun platform for learning modern cryptography by solving challenges and cracking insecure code, from classic ciphers to RSA, AES, and post-quantum crypto.
44CryptOMG๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกCryptOMG is a configurable CTF style test bed that highlights common flaws in cryptographic implementations.
45Arizona Cyber Warfare Range๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกThe ranges offer an excellent platform for you to learn computer network attack (CNA), computer network defense (CND), and digital forensics (DF). You can play any of these roles.
46AzureGoat๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกAzureGoat : A Damn Vulnerable Azure Infrastructure.
47BodgeIt Store๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸขThe BodgeIt Store is a vulnerable web application which is currently aimed at people who are new to pen testing.
48Crackmes.one๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” A free, community-driven place to download crackmes to practice and improve your reverse-engineering skills, with submissions and a leaderboard.
49Cyber Degrees๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกFree online cyber security Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS).
50Damn Vulnerable Router Firmware๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ”ดThe goal of this project is to simulate a real-world environment to help people learn about other CPU architectures outside of the x86_64 space. This project will also help people get into discovering new things about hardware.
51Dareyourmind๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกOnline game, hacker challenge (mirror archive).
52GOAD (Game Of Active Directory)๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกGOAD is a pentest active directory LAB project. The purpose of this lab is to give pentesters a vulnerable Active directory environment ready to use to practice usual attack techniques.
53Google Gruyere๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸขLabs that cover how an application can be attacked using common web security vulnerabilities, like cross-site scripting vulnerabilities (XSS) and cross-site request forgery (XSRF). Also, you can find labs how to find, fix, and avoid these common vulnerabilities and other bugs that have a security impact, such as denial-of-service, information disclosure, or remote code execution.
54HackSys Extreme Vulnerable Driver๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ”ดHackSys Extreme Vulnerable Driver is intentionally vulnerable Windows driver developed for security enthusiasts to learn and polish their exploitation skills at Kernel level.
55Microcorruption CTF๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกChallenge: given a debugger and a device, find an input that unlocks it. Solve the level with that input.
56Overthewire๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸขThe wargames offered by the OverTheWire community can help you to learn and practice security concepts in the form of fun-filled games.
57OWASP MASTG Crackmes๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” A set of reverse-engineering and cracking challenges for Android and iOS apps, maintained by the OWASP Mobile Application Security (MAS) project to accompany the MASTG.
58Reversing.kr๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกThis site tests your ability to Cracking & Reverse Code Engineering.
59RPISEC/Malware๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ”ดMalware Analysis Course materials.
60Vulnserver๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกWindows-based threaded TCP server application that is designed to be exploited.
61CTFlearn๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸข๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Beginner-friendly CTF platform with hundreds of free challenges across crypto, forensics, web, reversing, and stego, plus an active learning community.
62CyberTalents๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Global platform where cybersecurity talents can learn, practice, compete, and get ranked through free CTFs, courses, and competitions.
63Defbox๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกExperience real-Life Cyber Threats in a safe Environment.
64EchoCTF๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Cyber range built by Echothrust Solutions for running CTFs and trainings on real IT infrastructure, including fully functional smart-city dioramas with 200+ hackable elements.
65Exploit-exercises.com๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกexploit-exercises.com provides a variety of virtual machines, documentation and challenges that can be used to learn about a variety of computer security issues such as privilege escalation, vulnerability analysis, exploit development, debugging, reverse engineering, and general cyber security issues.
66GameOver๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกProject GameOver was started with the objective of training and educating newbies about the basics of web security and educate them about the common web attacks and help them understand how they work.
67Gh0stlab๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกA security research network where like-minded individuals could work together towards the common goal of knowledge.
68GoatseLinux๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกGSL is a Vmware image you can run for penetration testing purposes.
69Gracefully Vulnerable Virtual Machine๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกGracefulโ€™s VulnVM is VM web app designed to simulate a simple eCommerce style website which is purposely vulnerable to a number of well know security issues commonly seen in web applications.
70Hack The Box๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกHack The Box is an online platform allowing you to test your penetration testing skills and exchange ideas and methodologies with other members of similar interests. In order to join you should solve an entry-level challenge.
71Hack The Box Academy๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Free tier of Hack The Box Academy's structured cybersecurity learning paths and modules covering offensive, defensive, and general security skills.
72Hack This Site๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸขMore than just another hacker wargames site, Hack This Site is a living, breathing community with many active projects in development, with a vast selection of hacking articles and a huge forum where users can discuss hacking, network security, and just about everything.
73Hack Yourself First๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกThis course is designed to help web developers on all frameworks identify risks in their own websites before attackers do and it uses this site extensively to demonstrate risks.
74Hackertest.net๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸขHackerTest.net is your own online hacker simulation with 20 levels.
75Hacking-Lab๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกHacking-Lab is an online ethical hacking, computer network and security challenge platform, dedicated to finding and educating cyber security talents. Furthermore, Hacking-Lab is providing the CTF and mission style challenges for the European Cyber Security Challenge with Austria, Germany, Switzerland, UK, Spain, Romania and provides free OWASP TOP 10 online security labs.
76HackThis!!๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸขTest your skills with 50+ hacking levels, covering all aspects of security.
77Magical Code Injection Rainbow๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกThe Magical Code Injection Rainbow! MCIR is a framework for building configurable vulnerability testbeds. MCIR is also a collection of configurable vulnerability testbeds.
78MysteryTwister C3๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกMysteryTwister C3 lets you solve crypto challenges, starting from the simple Caesar cipher all the way to modern AES, they have challenges for everyone.
79OWASP Broken Web Applications Project๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกOWASP Broken Web Applications Project is a collection of vulnerable web applications that is distributed on a Virtual Machine.
80PicoCTF๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸขpicoCTF is a computer security game targeted at middle and high school students. The game consists of a series of challenges centered around a unique storyline where participants must reverse engineer, break, hack, decrypt, or do whatever it takes to solve the challenge.
81Professor Messer๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸขGood free training video's, not only on Security but on CompTIA A+, Network and Microsoft related as well.
82pwn.college๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Free hands-on cybersecurity education platform where learners develop and practice core cybersecurity skills, from Linux basics to memory corruption and exploitation.
83Pwnable.kr๐ŸŽฏ๐Ÿ”ด'pwnable.kr' is a non-commercial wargame site which provides various pwn challenges regarding system exploitation. while playing pwnable.kr, you could learn/improve system hacking skills but that shouldn't be your only purpose.
84RingZer0 CTF๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Online CTF with tons of challenges across cryptography, forensics, web exploitation, reverse engineering, and steganography.
85Root Me๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกHundreds of challenges and virtual environments. Each challenge can be associated with a multitude of solutions so you can learn.
86SG6 SecGame๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกSpanish language, vulnerable GNU/Linux systems.
87Smashthestack๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกThis network hosts several different wargames, ranging in difficulty. A wargame, in this context, is an environment that simulates software vulnerabilities and allows for the legal execution of exploitation techniques.
88TryHackMe๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸขTryHackMe is an online platform that teaches Cybersecurity through hands-on virtual labs. Whether you are an expert or beginner, learn through a virtual room structure to understand theoretical and practical security elements.
89W3Challs๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกW3Challs is a penetration testing training platform, which offers various computer challenges, in categories related to security
90Web Attack and Exploitation Distro๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกWAED is pre-configured with various real-world vulnerable web applications in a sandboxed environment. It includes pen testing tools as well.
91Wechall๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกFocussed on offering computer-related problems. You will find Cryptographic, Crackit, Steganography, Programming, Logic and Math/Science. The difficulty of these challenges varies as well.
92Blue Team Labs Online (BTLO)๐Ÿ›ก๏ธ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” A gamified platform for cyber defenders to practice security investigations and challenges covering Incident Response, Digital Forensics, Security Operations, and Reverse Engineering.
93CyberDefenders๐Ÿ›ก๏ธ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Free platform to upskill and benchmark SOC analysts with real-world cyber-range investigations, blue-team challenges, and structured learning paths.
94LetsDefend๐Ÿ›ก๏ธ๐ŸŸข๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Hands-on blue-team training platform with learning paths, MITRE ATT&CK-mapped courses, and browser-based incident-response challenges for SOC analysts.
95CloudGoat (AWS)โ˜๏ธ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” A deliberately vulnerable AWS infrastructure by Rhino Security Labs for learning cloud-pentesting techniques; spins up vulnerable scenarios you can attack and tear down.
96DIVA Android๐Ÿ“ฑ๐ŸŸขDamn Insecure and vulnerable App for Android.
97ExploitMe Mobile๐Ÿ“ฑ๐ŸŸกSet of labs and an exploitable framework for you to hack mobile an application on Android.
98OWASP GoatDroid๐Ÿ“ฑ๐ŸŸขOWASP GoatDroid is a fully functional and self-contained training environment for educating developers and testers on Android security. GoatDroid requires minimal dependencies and is ideal for both Android beginners as well as more advanced users.
99OWASP iGoat๐Ÿ“ฑ๐ŸŸขiGoat is a learning tool for iOS developers (iPhone, iPad, etc.).
100Holynix๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ๐ŸŸกHolynix is a Linux VMware image that was deliberately built to have security holes for the purposes of penetration testing.
101LAMPSecurity Training๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ๐ŸŸกLAMPSecurity training is designed to be a series of vulnerable virtual machine images along with complementary documentation designed to teach Linux,apache,PHP,MySQL security.
102Metasploit Unleashed๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ๐ŸŸกFree Ethical Hacking Course.
103Metasploitable 3๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ๐ŸŸกMetasploitable3 is a VM that is built from the ground up with a large number of security vulnerabilities.
104Morning Catch๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ๐ŸŸกMorning Catch is a VMware virtual machine, similar to Metasploitable, to demonstrate and teach about targeted client-side attacks and post-exploitation.
105Pwnos๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ๐ŸŸกPwnOS is a vulnerable by design OS .. and there are many ways you can hack it.
106Scene One๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ๐ŸŸกScene One is a pen testing scenario liveCD made for a bit of fun and learning.
107Vulnhub๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ๐ŸŸกAn extensive collection of vulnerable VMs with user-created solutions.
108Cyber Security Base๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸขCyber Security Base is a page with free courses by the University of Helsinki in collaboration with F-Secure.
109CyberTraining 365๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸขCybertraining365 has paid material but also offers free classes. The link is directed at the free classes.
110Cybrary.it๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸขFree and Open Source Cyber Security Learning.
111Information Assurance Support Environment (IASE)๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸขGreat site with Cybersecurity Awareness Training, Cybersecurity Training for IT Managers, Cybersecurity Training for Cybersecurity Professionals, Cybersecurity Technical Training, NetOps Training, Cyber Law Awareness, and FSO Tools Training available online.
112National Institutes of Health (NIH)๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸขShort courses on Information Security and Privacy Awareness. They have a section for executives, managers and IT Administrators as well.
113OpenSecurityTraining.info๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸกOpenSecurityTraining.info is dedicated to sharing training material for computer security classes, on any topic, that are at least one day long.
114Roppers Academy Training๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸขFree courses on computing and security fundamentals designed to train a beginner to crush their first CTF.
115RPISEC/MBE๐Ÿงฐ๐Ÿ”ดModern Binary Exploitation Course materials.
116SANS Cyber Aces๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸขSANS Cyber Aces Online makes available, free and online, selected courses from the professional development curriculum offered by The SANS Institute, the global leader in cyber security training.
117SEED Labs๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸกThe SEED project has labs on Software, Network, Web, Mobile and System security and Cryptography labs.
118UltimateLAMP๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸกUltimateLAMP is a fully functional environment allowing you to easily try and evaluate a number of LAMP stack software products without requiring any specific setup or configuration of these products.
119SlaveHack๐ŸŽฎ๐ŸŸขMy personal favorite: Slavehack is a virtual hack simulation game. Great for starters, I've seen kids in elementary school playing this!
120SlaveHack 2 BETA๐ŸŽฎ๐ŸŸขSlavehack 2 is a sequel to the original Slavehack. It's also a virtual hack simulation game but you will find features much closer to today's Cyber reality.

๐Ÿ’ธ All Sites Are Free

[!TIP] Every entry on this list is completely free. No trials, no freemium, no paywalls. If a site later becomes paid, it will be removed from the list.

๐Ÿ† Contributors

]

Special thanks to all the people who have contributed to this list:

foleranser โ€ข filinpavel โ€ข BenDrysdale โ€ข HrushikeshK โ€ข deveyNull โ€ข nirmalunagar โ€ข roya0045 โ€ข photoelf โ€ข AverageS โ€ข pentesttools-com โ€ข Warxim

๐Ÿค Contributing

[!IMPORTANT] Contributions are welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Contribute PRs Welcome GitHub issues

๐Ÿ—บ๏ธ Roadmap

This list is actively maintained. Here is what is done and what is on the horizon:

  • ๐Ÿš€ Initial launch with curated sites
  • ๐Ÿ“ˆ 100+ practice platforms listed
  • ๐Ÿ” Dead-link cleanup (8 broken entries removed)
  • ๐Ÿ†• Added 17 vetted new entries with category & difficulty tags
  • ๐Ÿท๏ธ Category & difficulty tags added to every entry
  • ๐Ÿ“ธ Add screenshots / demo GIFs per platform
  • ๐Ÿค– Set up GitHub Actions for automated weekly link checks
  • ๐Ÿ“Š Build a Mermaid diagram of platform relationships
  • ๐ŸŒ Add internationalization (translations)
  • ๐Ÿ“š Split into per-category reference pages

โœจ Show Some โค๏ธ

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๐Ÿ‘ค About the Author

LinkedIn ๐ŸŒ Twitter ๐ŸŒ Cybersecurity News

Joe Shenouda โ€” "Our work is no longer to secure computers alone, it's now about securing society."

Joe Shenouda is a seasoned cybersecurity expert with experience in engineering, consulting, and research. He has worked with leading companies like Verizon and Accenture, specializing in operational cybersecurity. Joe is passionate about mentoring and training the next generation of cybersecurity specialists, using industry standards like ISO, NIST, and CIS Controls to guide organizations in adopting best practices.

Accolades:

  • ๐Ÿ† Named one of the 50 most talented young leaders in the Netherlands by MT Magazine
  • ๐Ÿ† Received the Goudhaantje Award in 2019

Geography: Benelux, Middle-East & Nordics (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Egypt, Monaco, Vatican City)

GitHub Portfolio: https://github.com/joe-shenouda/

โœจ Active security clearance โœจ

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joe-shenouda/awesome-cyber-skills

A curated list of hacking environments where you can train your cyber skills legally and safely

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awesome-cyber-skills

๐Ÿ›ก๏ธ awesome-cyber-skills

A curated list of hacking environments where you can train your cyber skills free, legally and safely.

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๐Ÿ‘‹ Welcome

Welcome to awesome-cyber-skills โ€” your one-stop library for free, legal, and safe places to train your cybersecurity skills.

๐Ÿ“‘ Table of Contents

๐Ÿ“– About the List

[!NOTE] In the field of Information Security, understanding the enemy, the hacker, is crucial. By knowing your enemy, you can effectively defend and secure the digital world.

[!TIP] "Know the enemy, and you can defeat the enemy."

In the USA, even high-ranking retired police officers continue to advise residents on how to better secure their homes. They visit houses and identify weak points, sharing their knowledge of the criminals' techniques to help prevent break-ins.

To hone your cybersecurity skills, you need to keep your hacking skills up-to-date. To achieve this, a safe, legal, and free environment is necessary for practice.

This list compiles websites that offer various opportunities to practice your cyber skills. Each site has a unique approach, and a brief description is provided to highlight its focus.

  • ๐Ÿ“˜ Some sites offer tutorials to guide you
  • ๐Ÿงญ Others encourage self-directed exploration
  • ๐Ÿ”„ The list is regularly updated โ€” bookmark it or watch for new sites

If you are missing a site not mentioned in the list, feel free to contribute.

๐Ÿ—‚๏ธ Categories

EmojiCategorySites
๐ŸŒWeb Application Security41
๐Ÿ”Cryptography2
๐Ÿ”Reverse Engineering16
๐ŸŽฏCTF / Wargame31
๐Ÿ›ก๏ธBlue Team / DFIR / SOC3
โ˜๏ธCloud Security1
๐Ÿ“ฑMobile Security4
๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธSystem / Network / Exploitation8
๐ŸงฐTutorial / Course / Knowledge11
๐ŸŽฎMisc / Game2

โš–๏ธ Difficulty Levels

BadgeLevelBest for
๐ŸŸขBeginnerJust starting in security โ€” guided tutorials, friendly walkthroughs, low-stakes CTFs
๐ŸŸกIntermediateHave basics down โ€” real CTFs, full vulnerable apps, blue-team investigations
๐Ÿ”ดAdvancedSignificant expertise โ€” kernel exploitation, custom reversing, deep system internals

๐Ÿš€ The Sites

[!IMPORTANT] Every site in this list is 100% free, legal, and safe to practice on. Each entry is tagged with a category emoji and a difficulty badge (๐ŸŸข Beginner / ๐ŸŸก Intermediate / ๐Ÿ”ด Advanced).

Use the categories legend below or Ctrl+F to jump to what you need.

#Site nameCategoryDifficultyDescription
1Bug Bounty Hunter๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Free training platform created by bug bounty hunter zseano, teaching how to find and report web application vulnerabilities in real bug-bounty programs.
2bWAPP๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกbuggy web application, is a free and open source deliberately insecure web application. It helps security enthusiasts, developers and students to discover and to prevent web vulnerabilities. bWAPP prepares one to conduct successful penetration testing and ethical hacking projects.
3Commix testbed๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกA collection of web pages, vulnerable to command injection flaws.
4Damn Small Vulnerable Web๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกDamn Small Vulnerable Web (DSVW) is a deliberately vulnerable web application written in under 100 lines of code, created for educational purposes. It supports the majority of (most popular) web application vulnerabilities together with appropriate attacks.
5Damn Vulnerable Android App๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขDamn Vulnerable Android App (DVAA) is an Android application which contains intentional vulnerabilities.
6Damn Vulnerable Hybrid Mobile App๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขDamn Vulnerable Hybrid Mobile App (DVHMA) is a hybrid mobile app (for Android) that intentionally contains vulnerabilities.
7Damn Vulnerable iOS App๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขDamn Vulnerable iOS App (DVIA) is an iOS application that is damn vulnerable.
8Damn Vulnerable Linux๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกDamn Vulnerable Linux (DVL) is everything a good Linux distribution isn't. Its developers have spent hours stuffing it with broken, ill-configured, outdated, and exploitable software that makes it vulnerable to attacks.
9Damn Vulnerable Stateful Web App๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกShort and simple vulnerable PHP web application that naรฏve scanners found to be perfectly safe.
10Damn Vulnerable Thick Client App๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกDVTA is a Vulnerable Thick Client Application developed in C# .NET with many vulnerabilities.
11Damn Vulnerable Web App๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขDamn Vulnerable Web Application (DVWA) is a PHP/MySQL web application that is damn vulnerable. Its main goal is to be an aid for security professionals to test their skills and tools in a legal environment, help web developers better understand the processes of securing web applications and to aid both students & teachers to learn about web application security in a controlled class room environment.
12Damn Vulnerable Web Services๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกDamn Vulnerable Web Services is an insecure web application with multiple vulnerable web service components that can be used to learn real-world web service vulnerabilities.
13Damn Vulnerable Web Sockets๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกDamn Vulnerable Web Sockets (DVWS) is a vulnerable web application which works on web sockets for client-server communication.
14Damnvulnerable.me๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกA deliberately vulnerable modern-day app with lots of DOM-related bugs.
15exploit.co.il Vulnerable Web App๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกexploit.co.il Vulnerable Web app designed as a learning platform to test various SQL injection Techniques.
16Hackademic๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกOffers realistic scenarios full of known vulnerabilities (especially, of course, the OWASP Top Ten) for those trying to practice their attack skills.
17Hackazon๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกA modern vulnerable web app.
18Hacker101๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸข๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Free web-security class from HackerOne with videos, write-ups, and an always-on Capture the Flag to practice your bug-bounty skills.
19Hacksplaining๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขSecurity Training for Developers.
20HackTricks๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” A free cybersecurity knowledge base with practical pentesting, red-team, web, cloud, binary exploitation, and privilege-escalation techniques, contributed by the community.
21Hackxor๐ŸŒ๐Ÿ”ดHackxor is a web app hacking game where players must locate and exploit vulnerabilities to progress through the story. Think WebGoat but with a plot and a focus on realism&difficulty. Contains XSS, CSRF, SQLi, ReDoS, DOR, command injection, etc.
22Java Vulnerable Lab๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกVulnerable Java based Web Application.
23Mutillidae๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขOWASP Mutillidae II is a free, open source, deliberately vulnerable web application providing a target for web-security enthusiast.
24OWASP Mutillidae II๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขOWASP Mutillidae II is a free, open source, deliberately vulnerable web-application providing a target for web-security enthusiast.
25OWASP SiteGenerator๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกOWASP SiteGenerator allows the creating of dynamic websites based on XML files and predefined vulnerabilities (some simple, some complex) covering .Net languages and web development architectures (for example, navigation: Html, Javascript, Flash, Java, etc...).
26Pentesterlab๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกThis exercise explains how you can, from a SQL injection, gain access to the administration console, then in the administration console, how you can run commands on the system.
27Pentest-Ground๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกPentest-Ground is a free playground with deliberately vulnerable web applications and network services.
28Peruggia๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกPeruggia is designed as a safe, legal environment to learn about and try common attacks on web applications. Peruggia looks similar to an image gallery but contains several controlled vulnerabilities to practice on.
29PortSwigger Web Security Academy๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Free online training center for web application security from PortSwigger, with hands-on labs covering topics like XSS, SQL injection, SSRF, authentication, and deserialization.
30Puzzlemall๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกPuzzleMall - A vulnerable web application for practicing session puzzling.
31SentinelTestbed๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกVulnerable website. Used to test sentinel features.
32SocketToMe๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขSocketToMe SocketToMe is little application for testing web sockets.
33SQLI labs๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขSQLI labs to test error based, Blind boolean based, Time based.
34Sqlilabs๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขLab set-up for learning SQL Injection Techniques.
35Stanford SecuriBench / Securibench Micro๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกStanford SecuriBench / Securibench Micro is a series of small test cases designed to excercise different parts of a static security analyzer. Each test case in Securibench Micro comes with an answer, which simplifies the comparison process.
36techlogia Lab๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸข๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” techlogia Lab is a free, browser-based hacking lab teaching Linux server hardening, OWASP Top 10 web security, and GDPR-aware operations. Built for vocational schools and self-learners in the EU. Fully isolated VMs hosted in Germany, no install required, no tracking. Content licensed under CC-BY 4.0.
37The ButterFly - Security Project๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกThe ButterFly project is an educational environment intended to give an insight into common web application and PHP vulnerabilities. The environment also includes examples demonstrating how such vulnerabilities are mitigated.
38Vulnerable Node๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกA very vulnerable web site written in NodeJS to explore various vulnerabilities.
39WackoPicko๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกWackoPicko is a vulnerable web application used to test web application vulnerability scanners.
40Web Security Dojo๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกWeb Security Dojo is a preconfigured, stand-alone training environment for Web Application Security.
41XSS-game๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸขIn this training program, you will learn to find and exploit XSS bugs. You'll use this knowledge to confuse and infuriate your adversaries by preventing such bugs from happening in your applications.
42XVWA๐ŸŒ๐ŸŸกXVWA is a badly coded web application written in PHP/MySQL that helps security enthusiasts to learn application security.
43CryptoHack๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸข๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” A free, fun platform for learning modern cryptography by solving challenges and cracking insecure code, from classic ciphers to RSA, AES, and post-quantum crypto.
44CryptOMG๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกCryptOMG is a configurable CTF style test bed that highlights common flaws in cryptographic implementations.
45Arizona Cyber Warfare Range๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกThe ranges offer an excellent platform for you to learn computer network attack (CNA), computer network defense (CND), and digital forensics (DF). You can play any of these roles.
46AzureGoat๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกAzureGoat : A Damn Vulnerable Azure Infrastructure.
47BodgeIt Store๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸขThe BodgeIt Store is a vulnerable web application which is currently aimed at people who are new to pen testing.
48Crackmes.one๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” A free, community-driven place to download crackmes to practice and improve your reverse-engineering skills, with submissions and a leaderboard.
49Cyber Degrees๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกFree online cyber security Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCS).
50Damn Vulnerable Router Firmware๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ”ดThe goal of this project is to simulate a real-world environment to help people learn about other CPU architectures outside of the x86_64 space. This project will also help people get into discovering new things about hardware.
51Dareyourmind๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกOnline game, hacker challenge (mirror archive).
52GOAD (Game Of Active Directory)๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกGOAD is a pentest active directory LAB project. The purpose of this lab is to give pentesters a vulnerable Active directory environment ready to use to practice usual attack techniques.
53Google Gruyere๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸขLabs that cover how an application can be attacked using common web security vulnerabilities, like cross-site scripting vulnerabilities (XSS) and cross-site request forgery (XSRF). Also, you can find labs how to find, fix, and avoid these common vulnerabilities and other bugs that have a security impact, such as denial-of-service, information disclosure, or remote code execution.
54HackSys Extreme Vulnerable Driver๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ”ดHackSys Extreme Vulnerable Driver is intentionally vulnerable Windows driver developed for security enthusiasts to learn and polish their exploitation skills at Kernel level.
55Microcorruption CTF๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกChallenge: given a debugger and a device, find an input that unlocks it. Solve the level with that input.
56Overthewire๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸขThe wargames offered by the OverTheWire community can help you to learn and practice security concepts in the form of fun-filled games.
57OWASP MASTG Crackmes๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” A set of reverse-engineering and cracking challenges for Android and iOS apps, maintained by the OWASP Mobile Application Security (MAS) project to accompany the MASTG.
58Reversing.kr๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกThis site tests your ability to Cracking & Reverse Code Engineering.
59RPISEC/Malware๐Ÿ”๐Ÿ”ดMalware Analysis Course materials.
60Vulnserver๐Ÿ”๐ŸŸกWindows-based threaded TCP server application that is designed to be exploited.
61CTFlearn๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸข๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Beginner-friendly CTF platform with hundreds of free challenges across crypto, forensics, web, reversing, and stego, plus an active learning community.
62CyberTalents๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Global platform where cybersecurity talents can learn, practice, compete, and get ranked through free CTFs, courses, and competitions.
63Defbox๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกExperience real-Life Cyber Threats in a safe Environment.
64EchoCTF๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Cyber range built by Echothrust Solutions for running CTFs and trainings on real IT infrastructure, including fully functional smart-city dioramas with 200+ hackable elements.
65Exploit-exercises.com๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกexploit-exercises.com provides a variety of virtual machines, documentation and challenges that can be used to learn about a variety of computer security issues such as privilege escalation, vulnerability analysis, exploit development, debugging, reverse engineering, and general cyber security issues.
66GameOver๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกProject GameOver was started with the objective of training and educating newbies about the basics of web security and educate them about the common web attacks and help them understand how they work.
67Gh0stlab๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกA security research network where like-minded individuals could work together towards the common goal of knowledge.
68GoatseLinux๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกGSL is a Vmware image you can run for penetration testing purposes.
69Gracefully Vulnerable Virtual Machine๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกGracefulโ€™s VulnVM is VM web app designed to simulate a simple eCommerce style website which is purposely vulnerable to a number of well know security issues commonly seen in web applications.
70Hack The Box๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกHack The Box is an online platform allowing you to test your penetration testing skills and exchange ideas and methodologies with other members of similar interests. In order to join you should solve an entry-level challenge.
71Hack The Box Academy๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Free tier of Hack The Box Academy's structured cybersecurity learning paths and modules covering offensive, defensive, and general security skills.
72Hack This Site๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸขMore than just another hacker wargames site, Hack This Site is a living, breathing community with many active projects in development, with a vast selection of hacking articles and a huge forum where users can discuss hacking, network security, and just about everything.
73Hack Yourself First๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกThis course is designed to help web developers on all frameworks identify risks in their own websites before attackers do and it uses this site extensively to demonstrate risks.
74Hackertest.net๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸขHackerTest.net is your own online hacker simulation with 20 levels.
75Hacking-Lab๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกHacking-Lab is an online ethical hacking, computer network and security challenge platform, dedicated to finding and educating cyber security talents. Furthermore, Hacking-Lab is providing the CTF and mission style challenges for the European Cyber Security Challenge with Austria, Germany, Switzerland, UK, Spain, Romania and provides free OWASP TOP 10 online security labs.
76HackThis!!๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸขTest your skills with 50+ hacking levels, covering all aspects of security.
77Magical Code Injection Rainbow๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกThe Magical Code Injection Rainbow! MCIR is a framework for building configurable vulnerability testbeds. MCIR is also a collection of configurable vulnerability testbeds.
78MysteryTwister C3๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกMysteryTwister C3 lets you solve crypto challenges, starting from the simple Caesar cipher all the way to modern AES, they have challenges for everyone.
79OWASP Broken Web Applications Project๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกOWASP Broken Web Applications Project is a collection of vulnerable web applications that is distributed on a Virtual Machine.
80PicoCTF๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸขpicoCTF is a computer security game targeted at middle and high school students. The game consists of a series of challenges centered around a unique storyline where participants must reverse engineer, break, hack, decrypt, or do whatever it takes to solve the challenge.
81Professor Messer๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸขGood free training video's, not only on Security but on CompTIA A+, Network and Microsoft related as well.
82pwn.college๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Free hands-on cybersecurity education platform where learners develop and practice core cybersecurity skills, from Linux basics to memory corruption and exploitation.
83Pwnable.kr๐ŸŽฏ๐Ÿ”ด'pwnable.kr' is a non-commercial wargame site which provides various pwn challenges regarding system exploitation. while playing pwnable.kr, you could learn/improve system hacking skills but that shouldn't be your only purpose.
84RingZer0 CTF๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Online CTF with tons of challenges across cryptography, forensics, web exploitation, reverse engineering, and steganography.
85Root Me๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกHundreds of challenges and virtual environments. Each challenge can be associated with a multitude of solutions so you can learn.
86SG6 SecGame๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกSpanish language, vulnerable GNU/Linux systems.
87Smashthestack๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกThis network hosts several different wargames, ranging in difficulty. A wargame, in this context, is an environment that simulates software vulnerabilities and allows for the legal execution of exploitation techniques.
88TryHackMe๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸขTryHackMe is an online platform that teaches Cybersecurity through hands-on virtual labs. Whether you are an expert or beginner, learn through a virtual room structure to understand theoretical and practical security elements.
89W3Challs๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกW3Challs is a penetration testing training platform, which offers various computer challenges, in categories related to security
90Web Attack and Exploitation Distro๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกWAED is pre-configured with various real-world vulnerable web applications in a sandboxed environment. It includes pen testing tools as well.
91Wechall๐ŸŽฏ๐ŸŸกFocussed on offering computer-related problems. You will find Cryptographic, Crackit, Steganography, Programming, Logic and Math/Science. The difficulty of these challenges varies as well.
92Blue Team Labs Online (BTLO)๐Ÿ›ก๏ธ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” A gamified platform for cyber defenders to practice security investigations and challenges covering Incident Response, Digital Forensics, Security Operations, and Reverse Engineering.
93CyberDefenders๐Ÿ›ก๏ธ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Free platform to upskill and benchmark SOC analysts with real-world cyber-range investigations, blue-team challenges, and structured learning paths.
94LetsDefend๐Ÿ›ก๏ธ๐ŸŸข๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” Hands-on blue-team training platform with learning paths, MITRE ATT&CK-mapped courses, and browser-based incident-response challenges for SOC analysts.
95CloudGoat (AWS)โ˜๏ธ๐ŸŸก๐Ÿ†• NEW โ€” A deliberately vulnerable AWS infrastructure by Rhino Security Labs for learning cloud-pentesting techniques; spins up vulnerable scenarios you can attack and tear down.
96DIVA Android๐Ÿ“ฑ๐ŸŸขDamn Insecure and vulnerable App for Android.
97ExploitMe Mobile๐Ÿ“ฑ๐ŸŸกSet of labs and an exploitable framework for you to hack mobile an application on Android.
98OWASP GoatDroid๐Ÿ“ฑ๐ŸŸขOWASP GoatDroid is a fully functional and self-contained training environment for educating developers and testers on Android security. GoatDroid requires minimal dependencies and is ideal for both Android beginners as well as more advanced users.
99OWASP iGoat๐Ÿ“ฑ๐ŸŸขiGoat is a learning tool for iOS developers (iPhone, iPad, etc.).
100Holynix๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ๐ŸŸกHolynix is a Linux VMware image that was deliberately built to have security holes for the purposes of penetration testing.
101LAMPSecurity Training๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ๐ŸŸกLAMPSecurity training is designed to be a series of vulnerable virtual machine images along with complementary documentation designed to teach Linux,apache,PHP,MySQL security.
102Metasploit Unleashed๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ๐ŸŸกFree Ethical Hacking Course.
103Metasploitable 3๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ๐ŸŸกMetasploitable3 is a VM that is built from the ground up with a large number of security vulnerabilities.
104Morning Catch๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ๐ŸŸกMorning Catch is a VMware virtual machine, similar to Metasploitable, to demonstrate and teach about targeted client-side attacks and post-exploitation.
105Pwnos๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ๐ŸŸกPwnOS is a vulnerable by design OS .. and there are many ways you can hack it.
106Scene One๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ๐ŸŸกScene One is a pen testing scenario liveCD made for a bit of fun and learning.
107Vulnhub๐Ÿ–ฅ๏ธ๐ŸŸกAn extensive collection of vulnerable VMs with user-created solutions.
108Cyber Security Base๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸขCyber Security Base is a page with free courses by the University of Helsinki in collaboration with F-Secure.
109CyberTraining 365๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸขCybertraining365 has paid material but also offers free classes. The link is directed at the free classes.
110Cybrary.it๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸขFree and Open Source Cyber Security Learning.
111Information Assurance Support Environment (IASE)๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸขGreat site with Cybersecurity Awareness Training, Cybersecurity Training for IT Managers, Cybersecurity Training for Cybersecurity Professionals, Cybersecurity Technical Training, NetOps Training, Cyber Law Awareness, and FSO Tools Training available online.
112National Institutes of Health (NIH)๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸขShort courses on Information Security and Privacy Awareness. They have a section for executives, managers and IT Administrators as well.
113OpenSecurityTraining.info๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸกOpenSecurityTraining.info is dedicated to sharing training material for computer security classes, on any topic, that are at least one day long.
114Roppers Academy Training๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸขFree courses on computing and security fundamentals designed to train a beginner to crush their first CTF.
115RPISEC/MBE๐Ÿงฐ๐Ÿ”ดModern Binary Exploitation Course materials.
116SANS Cyber Aces๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸขSANS Cyber Aces Online makes available, free and online, selected courses from the professional development curriculum offered by The SANS Institute, the global leader in cyber security training.
117SEED Labs๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸกThe SEED project has labs on Software, Network, Web, Mobile and System security and Cryptography labs.
118UltimateLAMP๐Ÿงฐ๐ŸŸกUltimateLAMP is a fully functional environment allowing you to easily try and evaluate a number of LAMP stack software products without requiring any specific setup or configuration of these products.
119SlaveHack๐ŸŽฎ๐ŸŸขMy personal favorite: Slavehack is a virtual hack simulation game. Great for starters, I've seen kids in elementary school playing this!
120SlaveHack 2 BETA๐ŸŽฎ๐ŸŸขSlavehack 2 is a sequel to the original Slavehack. It's also a virtual hack simulation game but you will find features much closer to today's Cyber reality.

๐Ÿ’ธ All Sites Are Free

[!TIP] Every entry on this list is completely free. No trials, no freemium, no paywalls. If a site later becomes paid, it will be removed from the list.

๐Ÿ† Contributors

]

Special thanks to all the people who have contributed to this list:

foleranser โ€ข filinpavel โ€ข BenDrysdale โ€ข HrushikeshK โ€ข deveyNull โ€ข nirmalunagar โ€ข roya0045 โ€ข photoelf โ€ข AverageS โ€ข pentesttools-com โ€ข Warxim

๐Ÿค Contributing

[!IMPORTANT] Contributions are welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Contribute PRs Welcome GitHub issues

๐Ÿ—บ๏ธ Roadmap

This list is actively maintained. Here is what is done and what is on the horizon:

  • ๐Ÿš€ Initial launch with curated sites
  • ๐Ÿ“ˆ 100+ practice platforms listed
  • ๐Ÿ” Dead-link cleanup (8 broken entries removed)
  • ๐Ÿ†• Added 17 vetted new entries with category & difficulty tags
  • ๐Ÿท๏ธ Category & difficulty tags added to every entry
  • ๐Ÿ“ธ Add screenshots / demo GIFs per platform
  • ๐Ÿค– Set up GitHub Actions for automated weekly link checks
  • ๐Ÿ“Š Build a Mermaid diagram of platform relationships
  • ๐ŸŒ Add internationalization (translations)
  • ๐Ÿ“š Split into per-category reference pages

โœจ Show Some โค๏ธ

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๐Ÿ‘ค About the Author

LinkedIn ๐ŸŒ Twitter ๐ŸŒ Cybersecurity News

Joe Shenouda โ€” "Our work is no longer to secure computers alone, it's now about securing society."

Joe Shenouda is a seasoned cybersecurity expert with experience in engineering, consulting, and research. He has worked with leading companies like Verizon and Accenture, specializing in operational cybersecurity. Joe is passionate about mentoring and training the next generation of cybersecurity specialists, using industry standards like ISO, NIST, and CIS Controls to guide organizations in adopting best practices.

Accolades:

  • ๐Ÿ† Named one of the 50 most talented young leaders in the Netherlands by MT Magazine
  • ๐Ÿ† Received the Goudhaantje Award in 2019

Geography: Benelux, Middle-East & Nordics (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Egypt, Monaco, Vatican City)

GitHub Portfolio: https://github.com/joe-shenouda/

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แบ ฬธอ›ฬ€ฬ‘ฬšwฬทฬ™อ“อŠฬ‘ฬˆฬอ‚ฬ€ฬˆฬแบปฬธฬŸฬฬ’อ sฬธฬ›ฬœฬฃอ–ฬ˜ฬชฬฆอ‚อ‚ฬƒอ›อœoฬทอ•ฬบอŽอ”อŒฬmฬตอˆฬอŽฬ“ฬ“ฬ€อ†ฬ‚แบปฬดอ•ฬฒฬณอ ฬธฬบฬฝฬ‹ฬ’ฬšฬ•ฤˆฬทฬบฬฉฬญฬอ˜อแปณฬดฬจฬฑอ‚ฬbฬทฬ€ฬ‰ฬฬ“ฬ€อ‹ฬˆฬฬšอ…แธ›ฬธฬฒฬฬˆฬฬŠฬˆฬฬพอ‘ฬฬ€ฬ’rฬดฬฐฬฌฬ˜ฬปอ™ฬ‰ฬŒฬ€อ†ฬŽ ฬดฬฐอSฬทฬซฬœฬ–อฬ‹อŒฬŽkฬธฬขฬฏอ’อŠฬ€ฬฬฝอ‚ออ รฏฬดฬ›ฬ˜อšอ˜lฬดฬคฬฌอ•ฬบฬ™ฬฎฬฑอ‡อŠฬ‰แธฝฬทฬฬฃฬชฬ˜ฬฬ…sฬทฬผฬœฬ€ฬ‰อ’ฬˆฬ

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