…masters degree in cybersecurity…

I’d suggest grabbing a copy of pfSense (free BSD distro with a UI package on top of packet filter, runs on x86) and get a bit hands-on. It comes with an OpenVPN server. If you really want to play, having a second box set up will let you try the various kinds of tunneling.

If you plan to access your home from your mobile devices, you’d need to either have a static IP at home (expensive and potentially unavailable with residential service) or set yourself up with Dynamic DNS. dyndns.com (now dyn.com) used to do this for free — but they stopped. There are some others out there. My personal choice was namecheap.com. I moved my domain registrations there as well, and they support 2FA, including Yubikey.

Speaking of Yubikey, Wired used to offer a free one alongside a new digital subscription. Cheap way to get a Yubikey — and justify the subscription. :-)

Oh, and there’s an add-on for OpenVPN that allows connections to require 2FA. Bight be built in in current versions. As is, you can require a generated-by-your-box cert plus username/password. The add-on didn’t work with Yubikey as of 6 months ago. Dunno about now.

I don’t know if Medium has a PM system, so maybe just reply if you have questions.

Good luck with the degree! Now, with everyone at home, I expect a surge in the need for people who can protect w