Author

Security Analyst. Self-hoster. Automator.

I’m nana, a Cyber Security Analyst with a passion for self-hosting. I spend my time diving into the weeds of Docker, Kubernetes, and home lab security. I started this blog to share my technical experiments, configuration guides, and the security best practices I use to keep my home services running smoothly and safely.

Thanks for stopping by!

Security Philosophy

As a Cybersecurity Analyst, my approach to self-hosting isn’t just about making things work—it’s about making them resilient. I treat my home lab as a production environment, applying a "defense-in-depth" strategy to ensure that even if one layer is compromised, the rest remains secure.

My philosophy centers on four core pillars:

Principle of Least Privilege: Every container, service, and user is granted only the minimum permissions necessary to function. I avoid running containers as root whenever possible and use dedicated user namespaces to isolate processes from the host system.
Zero Trust Networking: I don’t rely on network "perimeters." Whether it’s internal traffic or remote access via Tailscale, I assume the network is hostile. All services are restricted by robust firewall rules and, where applicable, protected by authenticated proxies to ensure only authorized traffic reaches my applications.
Immutable Infrastructure & Automation: My configuration is version-controlled and documented. By using infrastructure-as-code (Docker Compose/Kubernetes manifests), I can easily tear down and redeploy services, reducing the "configuration drift" that often hides security vulnerabilities.
Secrets Hygiene: Credentials, API keys, and tokens are never stored in plain text or environment variables within my repositories. I use centralized secret management to ensure sensitive data is injected only when needed and protected at rest.

In the world of self-hosting, security is a process, not a destination. I believe that by hardening the foundation—from the container runtime to the network stack—I can enjoy the convenience of a personalized digital environment without compromising the integrity of my personal data.

Access all areas

By signing up, you'll get access to the full archive of everything that's been published before and everything that's still to come. Your very own private library.

Meet people like you

Join a community of other subscribers who share the same interests!