Find the treasure

 Title: Coins and Code: A Hobbyist’s Tale of Hackers and Treasure

When Ethan set up his first web server, he wasn’t expecting it to become a battleground. His site was a modest corner of the internet, dedicated to his passion: collecting rare gold coins. The homepage featured crisp images of his collection, a blog on the history of coinage, and a small forum for fellow enthusiasts to trade and share advice.

Setting up the server was an adventure in itself. Ethan spent weeks tinkering, teaching himself about Linux, configuring firewalls, and learning about SQL databases to power his little forum. It was exhilarating when the site went live. Visitors trickled in, and Ethan began receiving comments from others who shared his love of coins.

But the honeymoon was short-lived. Within a week, strange activity caught his attention. Logs showed repeated attempts to access parts of the server he hadn’t even configured. Ethan frowned at the unfamiliar IP addresses scrolling across his monitor like ominous footprints. Some originated from faraway countries; others were more local, but all had one thing in common—they weren’t legitimate visitors.

He knew this was a possibility. “Hackers love fresh servers,” he recalled reading on a forum. At first, the idea was almost flattering. “Why would someone target a little coin-collecting site?” Ethan mused. But curiosity turned to concern as he noticed repeated login attempts to the admin panel, SQL injection probes, and even attempts to drop malicious scripts into his forum.

Ethan decided to fight back—not with aggression, but with preparation.

He started by researching tools and techniques to harden his server. He enabled multi-factor authentication, installed a Web Application Firewall (WAF), and set up fail2ban to block suspicious IPs after a few failed attempts. His logs became his new treasure map, revealing patterns in the probes and attacks.

One night, as he was scanning the logs, he noticed something peculiar. An IP had been hitting his server every day at the same time. Instead of outright blocking it, Ethan became curious. He traced the activity back to a series of oddly specific searches: terms like “gold coin vault” and “server database coins.”

Ethan grinned. The idea that a hacker thought his modest site held a literal treasure trove of gold coins was both amusing and absurd. But the laugh gave way to realization: if the hacker believed his site was a goldmine, they might not stop.

Rather than panic, Ethan decided to have a little fun. Using his newfound web security skills, he set up a honeypot. He created a fake admin page with fields labeled “Vault Location” and “Encryption Key.” Any attempt to access this page would trigger an alert and log all activity.

Sure enough, the hacker bit. The logs showed frantic attempts to input fake vault locations and guess nonexistent keys. Ethan couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched in real-time.

But the experience left Ethan with a lesson: the internet is as much a realm of exploration as it is a battlefield. His site may have been small, but it was enough to attract attention—not from collectors, but from opportunists.

In the end, Ethan didn’t let the probes deter him. His site flourished as a community hub for coin collectors, and he continued to hone his skills as a webmaster. The attacks became a part of the hobby—a reminder that even in the pursuit of treasure, whether coins or code, vigilance is the true currency.

Ethan smiled as he logged out for the night, feeling both victorious and a little wiser. After all, every coin collector knows: where there’s treasure, there are always those looking to take it.