What is zeek-network-security-monitor?

The Zeek Network Security Monitor tutorial is a step-by-step guide that teaches you how to see exactly what is happening on your home or small office network. Instead of trusting that your internet-connected devices are behaving themselves, this tutorial shows you how to set up a monitoring system that records every connection, flags suspicious activity, and gives you a detailed picture of which devices are talking to the outside world. The tutorial works by walking you through the setup of a free monitoring tool called Zeek on a basic Ubuntu computer. You start by connecting an inexpensive piece of hardware called a network tap to your home router, which lets the computer observe traffic flowing across your network without interfering with it. From there, each lesson builds on the previous one, showing you how to capture different types of data, things like which IP addresses are generating the most traffic, what ports are receiving connections, which browsers are being used, and whether any web servers are running on unusual ports. This is aimed at people who want hands-on visibility into their own network but are not necessarily seasoned security professionals. A curious homeowner who wants to know if a smart TV is secretly sending data to an unknown server, or a small business owner who wants to make sure no unauthorized devices are connecting to their network, would find this practical. It also suits self-taught learners who want to build real-world network monitoring skills without investing in expensive enterprise equipment. What makes this approach notable is its accessibility. The tutorial uses inexpensive, readily available hardware and free software, lowering the barrier to entry considerably. Each lesson links to a detailed article on Medium, so you are getting a guided course rather than just a code repository. By the end, you should have a working monitoring station that can alert you to unusual activity and let you dig into connection logs to understand patterns on your network.