Free Linux Course

Free Course

I’ve talked about the power of Linux several times, and how versatile in can be. For example, in the Tools series.

Linux is the most widely used open source operating system.

Within Cybersecurity, where the “function over form” principle takes precedence there are many ways Linux is utilized for better working systems and more secure environments.

When using Linux for any use case in compute or security, it will usually be via the command line.

Thinking of operating out of the GUI as driving automatic, and working out of the command line as driving stick shift 🚗⚙️ (any car person can tell you the difference) can help model the benefits here.

Here are some of the powerful use cases for Linux

• Control and Autonomy of your Systems

• Parsing Large Quantities of Data

• Automate Tasks

• Schedule Services using Cron

• SSH to Securely Connect To Systems

• Hosting Web Services

• Containerization with native Kubernetes/Docker integration

• File Backups

• Compute

Resources

There are many out there, but here are some concrete resources that can aid in building Linux skills or getting in reps over time.

• CyberDefenders

• Google Cybersecurity Professional Cert

• OverTheWire

• explainshell

• Free Course

CyberDefenders

A hands on platform with Capture the Flags. It has various challenges in security topics and sets of questions to go through.

It is focused on the Blue team side of things, and can be good practice for hands on learning.

Google Cybersecurity Professional Cert

This is through Coursera. It’s affordable, self-paced, and gives hands-on experience with tools like Linux, Python, and other tools that are imperative to the job.

You can also opt to audit the course for free, just with no certificate at the end.

For those that can use the structure this could be a better choice.

OverTheWire

A CTF style wargames platform. You can start from basically zero and it levels you up by the end, with challenges increasing in difficulty as you go. You can think of these as reps.

This option will be less structured and more free flowing than the Google cert.

I recommend starting at Bandit, based all on the command line.

explainshell

A nifty web based tool that parses man pages, and command lines. It’ll provide help messages for each piece and argument of a command line.

We can finally know how tar works in all its intricacies.

My Course

Lastly, a while back I created a free course, an Intro to Linux.

It’s an introductory course into the command line, its fundamentals, and navigating man pages. It will always remain free for the community.

Linux Command Line Fundamentals - Free Course

If you’re going to be working with servers, chances are they will be running Linux.

If you are working in a Cloud environment, chances are this is going to be in Linux. In fact, approximately 90% of the public cloud workload operates on Linux.

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What I Read This week

• Vibe Hacking: Finding Auth Bypass and RCE in Open Game Panel

  • This goes over finding 3 vulnerabilities through prompting and manual testing

  • Is everything just a vibe nowadays?

• The Detection Opportunity Cost

  • The trade-off in choosing to pursue one detection idea over a potentially better one

  • Having a Detection backlog and prioritizing it according to your environment

• NSO Group owes $168M in damages to WhatsApp over spyware infections, jury says

  • A Tuesday ruling means NSO Group must pay WhatsApp for its damaging spyware

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Wrapping Up

Linux is a difference maker in many ways in Cybersecurity.

I really hope the community will find value in the course and get the most out of it. There are a lot of resources out there to get hands on practice on this learning journey.

See you in the next one.

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P.S. I also worked on a Cybersecurity Interview Guide to aid in the uphill battle that is interviews.

It’s a collection of interview questions and scenarios that you could face, that I’ve annotated over the years and put together in a Notion guide.

This is available here

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