Episode 42 — Linux Incident Basics: Triage and Artifacts
When something goes wrong on a Linux system, knowing where to start determines how much truth you recover. This episode walks you through initial triage—stabilizing the system, identifying scope, and capturing volatile evidence before it disappears. You’ll learn how to inspect running processes, open network connections, recent logins, and loaded modules, all of which can reveal intrusion clues. The episode also emphasizes the importance of minimizing contamination—using write blockers, mounting drives read-only, and documenting every command to preserve evidentiary integrity.
Listeners will then explore common artifacts that persist after an event, such as shell histories, cron jobs, temporary directories, and configuration files in /etc. We discuss how these traces help reconstruct attacker timelines and confirm persistence mechanisms. The goal is to make you comfortable with the investigative mindset: observe first, act second, and interpret data in context. By mastering these fundamentals, you’ll not only be ready for GSEC exam scenarios but also equipped to handle real-world incidents methodically and confidently. Produced by BareMetalCyber.com, where you’ll find more cyber audio courses, books, and information to strengthen your educational path. Also, if you want to stay up to date with the latest news, visit DailyCyber.News for a newsletter you can use, and a daily podcast you can commute with.
