I have been running a one-person cybersecurity practice for years. Then I discovered what happens when you pair an LLM with the right infrastructure.
This is my setup.
What I am Running
Three machines in my homelab:
- Mac mini (basement): Runs OpenClaw, my Telegram bot, automated agents
- Kraken: 4-GPU rig at
for heavy compute - Kali VM: Penetration testing playground at
The Mac mini handles the lightweight stuff — scheduling, messaging, orchestration. Kraken kicks in when I need GPU acceleration for model inference or training. The Kali VM is where I break things.
The Brains: OpenClaw + Claude
OpenClaw is an agent framework that gives me:
- A persistent agent I can message on Telegram
- Sub-agents I can spawn for parallel tasks
- Browser automation
- File system access
- MCP server integration
I talk to it like a person. Run a pen test on X. It figures out the tools, executes, reports back.
Here is what makes it different from just using Claude in the browser:
- Persistence: The agent remembers context across conversations
- Tool access: It can execute commands, not just suggest them
- Automation: I can schedule recurring tasks (my daily AI pentesting research runs every morning)
- MCP servers: I bolted on security tools directly
MCP Servers: The Force Multipliers
Model Context Protocol lets me connect AI directly to tools. My current setup:
- Metasploit: Automated vulnerability scanning
- Kali Linux: Full pen test toolkit
- Burp Suite: Web app testing
- OWASP ZAP: Automated DAST
When I tell the agent to check this URL for vulnerabilities, it spins up Burp, runs scans, parses results, and hands me a report. I do not touch the tools manually anymore.
The workflow is:
User → Telegram message → OpenClaw → Claude → MCP → Tool → Result → Telegram response
Total elapsed time: usually under a minute for basic tasks.
What Actually Happens
Let me give you a real example.
Yesterday I needed to test a client is web app. I typed:
Run a quick pen test on client-site.com, focus on OWASP Top 10
The agent:
- Spawned a sub-agent
- Fired up OWASP ZAP in passive mode
- Kicked off a Nmap scan
- Cross-referenced open ports with known exploits
- Returned a prioritized finding list in about 45 seconds
Was it as thorough as a manual engagement? No. But it found three medium-severity issues I would have missed doing it manually. And it cost me zero extra effort.
The Numbers
- Monthly AI spend: Around $200-300 in API calls (Claude + Grok)
- Time saved: Hard to quantify, but I would guess 10-15 hours/week on repetitive tasks
- Tasks automated: Daily threat intel, vulnerability scanning, report drafting, Slack/Telegram notifications
What I would Do Different
If you are building this:
- Start small: Do not try to automate everything. Pick one repetitive task and solve that first.
- Do not cheap out on the LLM: The $20/month Claude subscription pays for itself in an hour. The reasoning quality difference between cheap and premium models is enormous.
- Home lab > cloud: I run everything local. Kraken has 4 GPUs I use for model fine-tuning. Total electric bill: maybe $150/month. Compare that to AWS and it is not close.
- MCP is the key: The integration layer matters more than the model. The better your tool connections, the more the AI can actually do.
The Point
I am a one-person shop. I do not have a team. I do not have a SOC. I do not have a devops department.
What I have is an agent that never sleeps, never complains, and can spin up a Metasploit session faster than I can remember the syntax.
The future of solo operators is not about working harder. It is about building better systems.
Want details on any specific piece? Hit me up.
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