The CySec Knowledge Base organizes security tools and commands into six categories, reflecting the stages of a typical security workflow — from initial setup through active defense and incident response. Use this overview to navigate to the area you need.

Detection & Monitoring

Tools for watching your systems and networks in real time. Covers log analysis commands (grep, awk), network sniffers, and intrusion detection systems (IDS). Use these tools to spot suspicious activity before it becomes a breach.

Vulnerability Scanning

Tools for discovering weaknesses in your systems before attackers do. Covers network scanners (nmap), web application scanners (nikto, OWASP ZAP), and full-featured assessment platforms (OpenVAS, Nessus). Also explains CVE/CVSS scoring.

Attack Prevention & Hardening

Techniques and commands to reduce your attack surface. Includes firewall configuration, access control commands, file permission hardening, and secure coding principles.

Forensics & Incident Response

Tools used after an incident to understand what happened. Covers disk imaging (dd), memory analysis (Volatility), file-system forensics (Autopsy), and packet capture analysis (Wireshark).

Basic Bash Commands

Core shell commands every security practitioner needs. Covers navigation, file management, text searching (grep, find), and regular expressions — with security-relevant examples.

Setup & Config

Environment and lab configuration. Covers virtual machine setup, enabling hardware virtualization, and spinning up isolated test environments for safe experimentation.

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How the categories relate

Recon / Discovery
  └─ Vulnerability Scanning   ← find weaknesses first
        │
        ▼
  Prevention & Hardening      ← close the gaps you found
        │
        ▼
  Detection & Monitoring      ← watch for anything that got through
        │
        ▼
  Forensics & IR              ← investigate what happened
Supporting both active work and lab practice:
  • Basic Bash Commands — foundational shell literacy needed across every other category.
  • Setup & Config — isolated lab environments where you can practice safely without risk to production systems.

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Choosing the right tool

Use nmap from the Vulnerability Scanning category. It identifies open ports, service versions, and can run scripts to check for known vulnerabilities.
Use Wireshark (or tcpdump on the command line) from the Detection & Monitoring category to capture and inspect packets.
Use grep or awk from Detection & Monitoring. Combine with tail -f to watch logs in real time.
Use Autopsy or Volatility covered in Incident Response. Create a forensic image first with dd to preserve evidence integrity.
Start with Security Tools: configure your firewall (UFW/iptables), review file permissions (SUID/SGID bits), and apply the principle of least privilege.