In order to become a good ethical hacker or penetration tester, you need to be conversant with Linux, which is by far one of the most powerful operating systems. Linux is really good for ethical hacking and penetration testing because it is compatible with a wide variety of related tools and software, whereas other operating systems such as Mac and Windows support fewer of these software and tools. In this Blog, I am going to teach you some of the very basics of operating a Linux OS.
One of the most common questions asked in many forums is “Which Linux distro should I use?” As there are tons of Linux distros such as Ubuntu, Fedora, Knoppix, and BackTrack you can use any Linux distro you want as all work in a similar manner. However, I suggest you use BackTrack if you really wish to dig deeper into this subject because it is all encompassing from a penetration tester’s perspective.
-: Major Linux Operating Systems :-
Before talking about BackTrack, let’s take a look at some of the Linux-based distros that you will encounter very often :-
Red hat Linux—Used mostly for administration purpose.
Debian Linux—Designed for using only in open source software.
Ubuntu Linux—Designed mostly for personal use.
Mac OS X—Used in all Apple computers.
Solaris—Used in many commercial environments.
BackTrack Linux—Used mostly for penetration testing.
-: File Structure inside of Linux :-
On a Linux system, most everything is a file, and if it is not a file, then it is a process.
Here is a general diagram for file structure in Linux.
There are certain exceptions in a Linux file system :-
Directories—Files that are lists of other files.
Special file—The mechanism used for inout and output. /dev are special files.
Links—A system to make file or directory visible in multiple parts of the systems.
Sockets—A special file type, similar to TCP/IP sockets providing inter-process networking.
Pipes—More or less like sockets; they form a way for process to communicate with each other with out using network socket.
File types in a long list :-
Subdirectories of the root directory :-
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