Quick intro: I've been kicking around in infosec for about 5 years now, starting with Pentesting and later focusing mainly on bug bounties full-time for the last 3 or so (some might know me as RogueSMG from Twitter, or YouTube back in the day). My co-founder Kuldeep Pandya has been deep in it too (you might have seen his stuff at kuldeep.io).

TL;DR: Built "Barracks Social," a FREE, realistic social media sim WarZone to bridge the lab-to-real-world gap (evolving, no hints, reporting focus). Seeking honest beta feedback! Link: https://beta.barracks.army

Like many of you, we constantly felt that frustrating jump from standard labs/CTFs to the complexity and chaos of Real-World targets. We've had solved numerous Labs and played a few CTFs - but still couldn't feel "confident enough" to pick a Target and just Start Hacking. It felt like the available practice didn't quite build the right instincts.

To try and help bridge that gap, we started Barracks and built our first WarZone concept: "Barracks Social".

It's a simulated Social Networking site seeded with vulnerabilities inspired by Real-World reports including vulns we've personally found as well as from the community writeups. We designed it to be different:

• No Hand-Holding: Explore, Recon, find vulns organically. No hints.
• It Evolves: Simulates patches/updates based on feedback, so the attack surface changes.
• Reporting Focus: Designed to practice writing clear, detailed reports.

We just launched the early Beta Platform with Barracks Social, and it's completely FREE to use, now and permanently. We're committed to keeping foundational training accessible and plan to release more free WarZones regularly too.

I'm NOT selling anything with this Post; We're just genuinely looking for feedback from students, learners, and fellow practitioners on this first free WarZone. Does this realistic approach help build practical skills? What works? What's frustrating?

It's definitely Beta (built by our small team!), expect rough edges.

If you want to try a different practice challenge and share your honest thoughts, access the free beta here:

Link: https://beta.barracks.army
For more details -> https://barracks.army

Happy to answer any questions in the comments! What are your biggest hurdles moving from labs to live targets?