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Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing Guide
Linux Logging
Now, let’s talk briefly about where the log files are stored. The log files are an area of interest for
hackers because they want to remove traces of their presence when
they have compromised the
servers.
Generally the logs are stored inside the
/var/log
and
/var/adm
directory. However, many
services such as
httpd
have their own place for storing logs. The Linux saves .bash_history
inside
of the
/home
directory. The .bash_history file contains list of commands that were used from bash.
Common Applications of Linux
Here are some of the common applications that you would most
probably encounter with any
Linux flavor you use:
◾
Apache
—This is an open source web server. Most of the web runs on the Apache web server.
◾
MySQL
—This is the most popular database used in Unix-based systems.
◾
Sendmail
—This is a free Linux-based mail server. It is available inside both open source and
commercial versions.
◾
Postfix
—This can be used as a send-mail alternative.
◾
PureFTP
—This is the default ftp server used for almost all Unix-based systems.
◾
Samba
—This provides file and printer sharing services. The best
part is that it can easily
integrate with Windows-based systems.
What Is BackTrack?
So now that you are familiar with Linux, let me introduce you to BackTrack. BackTrack is a
Linux penetration testing distro developed by Offensive Security especially
for ethical hackers and
penetration testers. It contains all the popular tools and software used for pen testing a variety of
services, networks, and devices.
BackTrack 5 is the latest version of the Linux penetration testing distro
at the time of writing
this chapter. It comes in two flavors: Gnome and KDE. Gnome is an Ubuntu-based Linux oper-
ating system that has officially been introduced only in the latest version of BackTrack. Here is a
screenshot of BackTrack 5.
