# Ethical Hacking in ECE Assignment 2 - Aidan Sharpe

## Assignment Tasks
### Task 1
Create a directory named `ethics_lab` and manage files within it using commands like `mkdir`, `cd`, `mv`, and `touch`.

![](file_management.png)
Create a directory called `ethics_lab` using the `mkdir` command. Then navigate to `ethics_lab` using `cd`. Create three files (`file1`, `file2`, and `file3`) using the `touch` command. Show the contents of the `ethics_lab` directory using `ls`. Write the text "hello" into `file3` using echo and the write to file symbol (`>`). Print the contents of `file3` to the terminal using the `cat` command.
### Task 2
Monitor and manage processes on your system using tools like `ps`, `top`, and `kill`. Identify and terminate a process.

![](top.png)

View an active, sorted list of all tasks running on the system using `top`.

![](task_tools.png)

List all tasks running on the system using `ps -e` then pass the output into `grep` and filter for the text "fox". This shows the information for the firefox-esr task. The number at the beginning of the line is the process identifier, and the process can be ended by executing `kill` followed by that process ID.

### Task 3
Use `ifconfig`/`ip a`, `ping`, and `netstat`.

![](network.png)

Running `ip a` shows IP address information. For example, we can see that the current IP address is `192.168.56.101`. We also ran this command on another virtual machine and found that its IP address was `192.168.56.102`, so we can ping it using `ping` to see if a connection can be established. Running`netstat` shows a list of network connections.

### Task 4
Set up a second VM and connect to it using `ssh`.

![](ssh.png)

Prior to running the command, a host configuration was created called `msf`. This contained the known ip address and the preferred key algorithm. The command `ssh msfadmin@msf` creates a login tunnel for the user account `msfadmin` between the host and remote system. 

### Task 5
Configure the firewall using `ufw`. Enable the firewall and allow SSH traffic.

![](firewall.png)

## Reflection
Learning basic Linux command is an important skill for ethical hacking for multiple reasons. 

### Reason 1 - Most Ethical Hacking Tools Run on Linux
Most ethical hacking tools run on or are designed specifically for Linux machines. Knowing how to better use the machines that your tools are running on is always advantageous.

### Reason 2 - Most Servers Run Linux
Since over 90% of the servers on the internet run Linux, that means that most databases (the places where pretty much all valuable information is stored) are hosted on Linux-based servers. By being familiar with basic Linux commands, navigating remote server file systems becomes a much easier task.

### Skills Gained from This Assignment
One skill I learned from this assignment is forcing a specific key algorithm for different hosts. While I have used SSH many times in the past, I was not aware that different machines restricted the type of keys used. Frankly, I thought they all used the same type of key. After completing this exercises, I am now practiced in the configuration of host key algorithms.