🎯 Goal

Understand how a website works end-to-end, from the user’s device to the server response, and reinforce this understanding through visual mapping.

âś… What I Did

Study & Practice

  • Completed TryHackMe room: How Websites Work
  • Completed TryHackMe section: Putting It All Together

Consolidation & Reflection

  • Reviewed and consolidated notes in Obsidian:
    • The Basics of Cybersecurity
    • Web fundamentals
    • Network fundamentals
  • Re-read the “Putting It All Together” section slowly, focusing on flow rather than definitions
  • Created a large visual diagram in Apple Freeform connecting most of the concepts studied so far
    • This took significant time
    • Actively exposed gaps and weak spots in understanding
    • Forced clarification of relationships between concepts

âś… What Worked

  • Visualizing the full flow made abstract concepts concrete
  • Drawing connections highlighted missing or misunderstood steps
  • Revisiting notes after hands-on study improved retention
  • Slowing down instead of rushing new material paid off

❌ What Didn’t

  • Some protocol-level details are still fuzzy without packet-level analysis
  • The diagram became complex quickly, requiring pruning and simplification
  • Explaining the full flow verbally is still harder than recognizing it visually

🧠 Key Takeaways

  • A website load is a sequence of dependent processes, not a single action
  • DNS resolution is a prerequisite for everything else
  • Networking, web, and security concepts are tightly coupled
  • Visual mapping is a powerful tool for revealing weak understanding

âť“ Questions

  • Which parts of this flow are most commonly attacked or misconfigured?
  • Where exactly do firewalls, WAFs, and CDNs intervene in the process?
  • What level of detail is necessary to explain this clearly to a non-technical person?

🧩 One-Sentence Summary

A website works because a browser resolves a domain name to an IP address, establishes a network connection to a server, sends an HTTP request, and receives a response that it processes and displays.

đź“š Resources

  • TryHackMe: How Websites Work
    https://tryhackme.com/room/howwebsiteswork