Linux Basics for Hackers: Getting Started with Networking, Scripting, and Security in Kali

by OccupyTheWeb

This practical, tutorial-style book uses the Kali Linux distribution to teach Linux basics with a focus on how hackers would use them. Topics include Linux command line basics, filesystems, networking, BASH basics, package management, logging, and the Linux kernel and drivers.If you're getting started along the exciting path of hacking, cybersecurity, and pentesting, Linux Basics for Hackers is an excellent first step. Using Kali Linux, an advanced penetration testing distribution of Linux, you'll learn the basics of using the Linux operating system and acquire the tools and techniques you'll need to take control of a Linux environment.First, you'll learn how to install Kali on a virtual machine and get an introduction to basic Linux concepts. Next, you'll tackle broader Linux topics like manipulating text, controlling file and directory permissions, and managing user environment variables. You'll then focus in on foundational hacking concepts like security and anonymity and learn scripting skills with bash and Python. Practical tutorials and exercises throughout will reinforce and test your skills as you learn how Cover your tracks by changing your network information and manipulating the rsyslog logging utility- Write a tool to scan for network connections, and connect and listen to wireless networks- Keep your internet activity stealthy using Tor, proxy servers, VPNs, and encrypted email- Write a bash script to scan open ports for potential targets- Use and abuse services like MySQL, Apache web server, and OpenSSH- Build your own hacking tools, such as a remote video spy camera and a password crackerHacking is complex, and there is no single way in. Why not start at the beginning with Linux Basics for Hackers?

Genres: Hackers, Programming, Technology, Computer Science, Nonfiction, Coding, Technical

248 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Blair · Rating 1 out of 5]

According to the book, I'm not the target audience (experienced Linux admin), but I picked it up as a way to learn about Kali Linux and the tools it has.

Things that strike me as suspect: First, the author has a tutorial to install Kali Linux on a virtual machine instance, but later chapters demonstrate wireless tools that require direct wireless access on your computer. That isn't going to happen in a virtual machine. Second, the author jumps right into networking, but doesn't mention how to turn networking on. Kali Linux defaults to networking off. For a book for non-experienced Linux folks, this is kind of a big deal. Third, the book's coverage is scant for someone aspiring to use Linux.

Overall, this feels like many of the hacking materials that floated around on the internet circa-2000; just enough substance to look useful and helpful, but missing enough to be frustrating. But don't worry, follow the links in the book to the author's site, and you can sign up for a class!

Frankly, I'm surprised that No Starch Press published this, and that it passed the technical review, as the book has large holes that will let new folks down. I'm sad that my library paid money for this book.

If you're new to Linux, I'd recommend starting with the following books:


A Practical Guide to Linux
The Linux Command Line
How Linux Works


They're not hacking texts, so if that's your thing (or you want it to be your thing), you'll need to research that content on your own. But those books will give you a fairly solid foundation to start.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am not an aspiring hacker, but I work with an Oracle database that lives in a Linux environment, and this ebook was part of a Humble Bundle I got a while back for some light Python reading, so I figured "What the hell, maybe I'll learn something."

And I did, but I found this took shallow dives into too many deep topics. I'm not really sure who it's for. It would have been better off going deeper into Linux without needing to graze so many areas, or going into far more depth on security, encryption, etc. without being bound by the novice-level O/S knowledge requirement.

There were also times when the Kali shell it has you set up is not capable of replicating the examples in their environment, so thanks Stack Overflow for helping with that. Just could've used more editing.

It also assumed I have a Raspberry Pi sitting around. I do, but I wasn't wiping out my collection of Looney Tunes and Barbie NES games for this.

So yeah, for a super surface-level intro to some fun topics, it's fine. It does an okay job of pointing you in the direction of further study. I, not needing to be a hacker, will pass. Though I have to admit I contemplated stashing a spycam in my upstairs neighbor's apartment to see what the hell he's stomping around doing at 5:30 every morning. I'm pretty sure I could get into his place...

[Daniel Blazquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the title indicates, the audience is users with little to now knowledge of Linux. In this sense, the book does a great job covering the basics -regardless of the "hacking" subtitle. However, it is helpful in the sense that it covers Kali, an offensive security Linux distribution preferred in cybersecurity circles, and each chapter includes a few general guidelines on computer offensive security. A fun and quick read!

[T.R. Preston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been interested in hacking and cybersecurity for a while. I have no idea what caused this new obsession. It really came out of nowhere sometime last year. I've still got a long way to go to be considered uniquely knowledgeable. I want to make sure I fully understand the basics.

I might pursue a side job in cybersecurity after graduating from a few different courses I plan to take.

[William Schram · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know my way around computers. If something I don’t understand comes up, I research it. I am not a power user, though. I tried Ubuntu 20 years ago, but I couldn’t access my files from my Windows partition of the drive. I gave up and went back to Windows.

Linux Basics For Hackers is a book on the basics of hacking. It uses the Kali Linux environment and describes everything in easy-to-understand terms. Occupy the Web is the pseudonym for someone with over 20 years of experience in web security.

OTW explains how to set up a virtual machine on your computer so you don’t have to dual-boot operating systems. The book contains 17 chapters on the basics. At the end of the book, OTW recommends a book to broaden your skills with Python.

You might ask yourself, what does OTW mean by the basics? Well, we cover the Terminal, permissions, process management, changing the PATH, and bash scripting.

I enjoyed the book. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.

[Mojtaba Tajik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a great starting point to Linux family. All the important basics are covered very clear.

[Ernesto Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a Foundations book, do not expect anything too deep but it is a great starting point for the hacking world, it explain the usage of certain services and commands to attack and defend. I have many experience years managing Linux servers and I learned a lot about hiding your presence in the logs with this book.

[Fabrizio Hernández · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book for starters and enthusiast.

[Manuel Valenzuela · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some useful stuff to take from the book, however it’s confusing what type of person is it directed to, if you are experienced in IT there’s not much to learn and there are way better books that go more in depth, but it also doesn’t feel like something I would recommend to someone that is a complete beginner, I guess there is a sweetspot right where you know just a little but don’t know what topics you should focus on next, maybe this book can help as it goes through so many different IT fields, here you can get ideas on what feels interesting to you and then go in depth with them and really learn the actual useful stuff.

[Landis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of the book could also be "Linux Basics...for Anyone Starting Out in Linux". Apart from a couple of scanning scripts and the names of some of the preloaded utilities in Kali, the book isn't a guide to hacking. As the title says, it's about the basics that someone would need to know about Linux if they were going to perform hacking/pentesting using Kali. The mention of Kali is a bit misleading as well. Though the book's examples are all Debian-based, there are few instructions that can't just as easily apply to any other Debian distro. Having said that, though, the book does deliver what it promises (if you don't read too much into the title...and the picture on the cover). It's a very clear introduction to basic Linux skills and would be a great first book for anyone brand new to Linux and wanting to use it for any purpose.

[Kate Friedman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book is very basic and targets people with no programming/linux knowledge, or even kids. It’s very superficial and doesn’t teach anything very worthwhile. Stay away from this if you have used linux or know anything about CS

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Way too shallow to be helpful. Has nothing to do with "hacking". The only thing this book provides is a way to give your lab instructor a headache.

[Adamski · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction if you never used Linux before.

[Meredith Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Ahmed Eltaher · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب Linux Basics for Hackers: البداية المثالية!

بس لمين؟ لشخص ناوي يتعلم Linux عشان مجال الـ Cybersecurity بالتحديد
الكتاب نفسه لما قال الكتاب ده لمين قال:

"This book is not intended for the experienced hacker or the experienced Linux admin. Instead, it is intended for those who want to get started along the exciting path of hacking, cybersecurity, and pentesting."

الكتاب خفيف و تقسيمه ممتازة، متقسم ل 17 فصل (لكن كل فصل في حدود ال 10 أو 15 صفحة) فكل فصل ينفع يتذاكر في جلسة مع تطبيق التدريبات اللي في آخر كل فصل.

الكتاب بيغطي مواضيع كتيرة زي المفاهيم الأساسية في Linux، التعامل مع النصوص، شرح نظام الصلاحيات في Linux، إزاي تخفي هويتك قدر الإمكان، بناء برامج وأدوات خاصة بك بإستخدام bash & python (طبعا أدوات بسيطة في الكتاب هنا لأن الهدف هو تقديم القارئ للعالم الجديد ده) ومواضيع تانية.

فلو أنت لسه طالب وناوي تتجه للـ cybersecurity، أو أنت mentor و هتشرح جزء يتعلق بـ Linux لمبتدئين أنصحك بالكتاب ده.

[Jaren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Get book for absolute beginners, not the best for people that have already been through other tutorials although it does teach you some cool methods for some tools it’s nothing you couldn’t learn with a few google searches. The content is really nothing crazy and even for beginners this all has been written and documents in various YouTube videos and blog articles based on using Linux and setting up a VM. It also confused me when then first task on setting up a Kali VM was so outdated since virtual box’s interface has changed so much it might be a challenge to find the specific buttons to press. It would be very quick for the author to rewrite and upload those pages due to technology updating so frequently it would be best for the book to stay on the same page as what it’s trying to educate its users on.

[Justin Dittburner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great introduction to a broad range of topics but is inherently limited by the scope. It covers a lot without being incredibly in depth which is definitely part of the appeal to a beginner. I'm glad I read, would recommend for people getting their toes wet, but overall does not provide as much utility as I would have liked. Not to say it hasn't been useful, I can directly credit this for improving my job. I just wish it was more than what the author was going for. The end of chapter challenges could have been a little more different than what is taught in the chapter.

I think I had too much base knowledge going into this to make it as exciting as I would have liked, but I did pick up some new information along the way. Much better for someone with little to no knowledge going in. Love the author and can't wait to check out more of his work!

[River · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved this book the first time I read it.

It has some easy to understand very practical information, such as explaing some common GNU tools.. however, it also feels.. broken? I can't quite find the right word for it, but it teaches some bad practices. An example is how it teaches you to add the Ubuntu repo, which is fine - until you want to upgrade the system - or consider why you are doing it when the book has already suggested to install Kali in a virtual machine. This example sets the tone for a lot of content in the book.

I understand that it is suppose to be "quick'n'dirty", but it might just be a little TOO quick'n'dirty

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good book for Linux beginners, however it might be viewed from another angle:

The author tried to attract readers by using too many "hackings" "spy" "hackers", etc., but always says "how to do .... is beyond the scope of this book". So, he gave all the Linux basics in the name of a hacker. But what the author really wrote had almost nothing to do with hacking itself. So, the title was fancy but not "real".

Well, on the other hand if you think from the author's point of view, no one will buy another book about "Linux Basics for beginners", right?

[Kubilay Sarıbardak · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, I would like to point out that the book is not for experts.
When I compare it with other hackers books I have read, I cannot say that there are differences in terms of the subject in the first parts, but especially the last 4-5 chapters showed why the book is important. These sections gone deep into Linux and showed detailed applications (for example, browser and password cracker to monitor TCP / IP connections). In summary, the topics mentioned in the book are written carefully and with the thought of how the other side can better understand.

[David]

** Just have skim-read this, so it is NOT a review.. this is just a summary so I know when I can pick it up later for reference. **

This is a fairly 'intro level' book on Linux, with specifics in Kali Linux. There are a few things that I found useful - mainly the networking commands and syslog commands that are specific to kali.

Some of the low level wifeless interface commands I didn't know, but mostly I knew everything in this book already. Still worth it as a quick reference while going through Kali Linux.

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a pretty decent introduction to linux for someone just beginning to use it, even though it's in the context of hacking. The scripting intro towards the end was also a cool way to add a little icing to the cake.

Peronsally, I didn't get a ton out of it as I am already a pretty heavy user of linux in my day to day. So I'd expect the same for anyone else who has more than a little experience using the OS.

[Alex B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Linux Basics for Hackers: Getting Started with Networking, Scripting, and Security in Kali" by OccupyTheWeb is an excellent guide for those venturing into ethical hacking with Linux. The book covers essential Linux concepts, networking, scripting, and security using Kali Linux. OccupyTheWeb's hands-on approach and practical examples make it suitable for both beginners and experienced users. The book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in cybersecurity and ethical hacking.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really covers a broad variety of information but didn't quite touch on some of the things I wished. As the author stated it really is intended for the beginning Linux user. The book was well written and I only wished I had looked at something like this when I started programming 10 years ago.

[Mick Petzold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Discusses use of Kali Linux, a pen testing Linux distribution. Instead of being written from the perspective of the System Administrator, it is written from the perspective of a hacker. Two sides of the same coin, really. Good use of geek humor. Learned quite a bit about covering tracks and keeping anonymity as much as possible in today's cyber world.

[Jeffrey Dill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely very introductory, so anyone who's already moderately familiar with Linux or the terminal on any *nix system may feel like it's a bit too basic. But it does have "Basics" right in the title so it's hard to fault it for that.

Overall, it's a great little introduction to some basic pentesting tools.

[Mark Lacanilao · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit repetitive if you've already read How Linux Works and The Linux Command Line. However, there are some great exercises with Kali Linux if you have minimal experience with Virtual Machines. You can't fault the author for going over Linux basics they are prerequisites for completing the exercises in this book.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good intro to Linux from a hacking perspective, I think even advanced Linux users will find something in here that they did not know or at the very least were unfamiliar with. However like most tech books there are a few places where the commands used no longer work or are depreciated and you will have to do some googling if you want to follow along.

[Rush Dar · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the number of pages of this book, you would think it would cover many different items and ideas. But, the book's first half is just a rehash of the basics of the commands that anyone who would pick up this book would already know. Once you skip all the filler, the book's heart is good for those new to Kali and how to use this Linux version.

[Jeffrey Touze · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introductory book if you're starting in Linux with hopes to break into cybersecurity. My recommendation is to wait for the newest edition of this copy as some examples within the chapters are a bit dated. This is common with books within tech, I still think this was a great book and it helped me understand Linux a bit better. I also recommend The Linux Command Line