Study Guide

Kali Linux Fundamentals

Created By: Jose Llerena, Teaching Assistant
Module 1.
Lesson 1.0​: The Beginning
Skills Learned From This Lesson: Live Boot, Forensics Mode, Disk Encryption.
● There are a vast variety of Linux Distributions
● Linux Kernel controls CPU, Memory and Devices
● Some of Kali application categories are Information Gathering, Vulnerability Analysis,
Wireless Attacks, Web Applications, Exploitation Tools.

Lesson 1.1​: Getting Kali up and running

Skills Learned From This Lesson: Download, Install, Checksum.
● Hypervisor
○ VMWARE
○ Virtual Box
● Installation: Preferably 64bit.
● Different Desktop Environments like KDE also possible to download
● Checksum: SHA-256
● Live CD to test distribution without the need of a full install

Lesson 1.2​: Moving around

Skills Learned From This Lesson: Terminal, Applications, Settings
● Show Applications option to search a specific application
● Settings to configure Kali Linux most common options
● Free explore the system to discover its features

Module 2.
Lesson 2.0​: The Terminal
Skills Learned From This Lesson: Commands, Root.

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 ● Pwd command: To list current directory
● Ls command: To list directory content
● Cd .. command: The two dot parameter is to leave current directory and go to immediate
parent directory.
● Cd command is to change directory, specifying the directory where I want to go.
● Cat command: ​cat filename​ is to show the content of a file.
● Rm command: ​rm filename​ is to delete a file
● Mkdir command: ​mkdir dirname ​is to create a new directory
● Mv command: Moves a file or directory to another location
Lesson 2.1​: File System
Skills Learned From This Lesson: Permissions, Directories
● /bin/: basic programs
● /root/: administrator personal files
● /mnt/: temporary mount points
● /etc/: configuration files
● /dev/: device files
● Permissions: 0 none, 1 execute, 2 write, 4 read, combining those permissions will result
in the sum of its value, for example, if a user has a permission only for read and execute,
it will be 5, or if permission is set to write and execute, it will be 3.
● Permissions is set in 3 groups, the first one is permission for the owner, second is for the
group and the third is for others. When executing command ​chmod 755 filename​, the
permission is set for full permission for owner and execute and read permission for
group and others.
Lesson 2.2​: Useful commands
Skills Learned From This Lesson: Scripting, Text Editor, Skill
● Clear command: To clear text in terminal window
● Man command: ​man command​ to open the manual for the corresponding command
● Echo command is to output text, is more used in programming and scripting
● Most known text editors are nano, vi, vim.
● Whoami: This command show the user I am.
● Id prints my user and group id
● Df command shows disk usage by partition

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 ● Passwd command: ​passwd user​ prompts to change a user password, this is possible
only with root, with regular users only work using passwd alone in order to change my
own password.

Module 3.
Lesson 3.1​: Basic Network Commands
Skills Learned From This Lesson: Network commands
● Ipconfig command: to show current network configuration, it is usually executed to know
user ip address
● Ping command: to test connection to a remote server.
● Traceroute command: to show the path of server to where user passes through before
reaching the final destination
● Netstat command show routing tables as well as current PC connections
● Nslookup command queries domain name servers and shows the ip associated with that
DNS
● Dig command shows more detailed info in relation of nslookup
● Iwconfig command shows wireless interface
Lesson 3.2​: Services
Skills Learned From This Lesson: Service, Apache, Process
● Ps command show processes, using the options aux show all users processes, displays
the owner of the process and shows processes not attached to a terminal
● Ssh it is a secure service to connect to a remote shell securely
● Nano it is widely used not only to edit text files but also to modify configuration files
Lesson 3.3​: Managing Users
Skills Learned From This Lesson: User management, password, group
● /etc/passwd: In old distros password key used to be stored here, newer distros it lists
users
● /etc/group: File with groups information
● Adduser command adds new user
● Userdel command deletes a user

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Module 4.
Lesson 4.1​: Troubleshooting basics
Skills Learned From This Lesson: Physical troubleshoot, network troubleshooting, services
● Basic troubleshooting implies checking physical connections, another basic check is to
restart devices.
● Check network connections with its basic commands: ping, netstat, traceroute, etc.
● Checking the services is very important with command ​service service_name
status/restart​.
● Googling and checking blogs/forums is very helpful
Lesson 4.2​: The tools chest
Skills Learned From This Lesson: Tools
● Going to ​https://tools.kali.org/tools-listing​ is very useful to find the list of all Kali tools

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cybersecurity industry. Enterprise-grade workforce development
management, advanced training features and detailed skill gap and
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