Yellow - NetEng/SysAdmin

Networking, protocol, operating system, Windows, Linux, macOS, Active Directory, sysadmin, and infrastructure references for security practitioners.

This page is for the fundamentals behind security work: networking, protocols, operating systems, automation, and systems administration. Keep hands-on offensive tradecraft in Red, detection and hardening in Blue, DFIR workflows in DFIR, and courses or labs in Training.

Networking

Core Learning

• GeeksforGeeks computer network tutorials - Broad networking tutorial collection.

• The TCP/IP Guide - Free online version of the No Starch Press book.

• An Introduction to Computer Networks - Free networking textbook.

• Bits, Signals, and Packets - MIT OpenCourseWare reading.

• Computer Networking: Principles, Protocols and Practice

• Computer Networks: A Systems Approach - Larry Peterson and Bruce Davie.

• The System Design Primer

• Awesome Scalability

• Web Architecture 101

IP Addressing and Protocols

• Understanding IP Addressing

• IPv6 for IPv4 Experts

• Introduction to HTTP

• How HTTPS Works

• HTTP Succinctly

• HTTP/2 Explained

Distributed Systems and Infrastructure

• Distributed Systems for Fun and Profit

• High-Performance Browser Networking

• Kafka: The Definitive Guide

• Code Connected vol. 1 - ZeroMQ.

Automation and Infrastructure as Code

• Ansible - Configuration management and automation.

• Terraform - Infrastructure as code.

Training

Training platforms and labs are maintained in the Training section.

Training and Resources

IP Range Reference

• Tenable Cloud Scanner IP ranges

• Google Cloud IP ranges JSON

• Azure IP ranges and service tags

Operating Systems

Linux

• Linux Journey - Introductory Linux learning path.

• Linux Basics for Hackers - Offensive-security-focused Linux book.

• Cisco NDG Linux Unhatched

• Roppers Computing Fundamentals

• Kali Linux Revealed

• Operator Handbook: Linux_Defend - pg. 122

• Operator Handbook: Linux_Ports - pg. 133

• Operator Handbook: Linux_Structure - pg. 143

Linux CLI and Bash references live in Code and CLI.

Bash

Windows

• Windows components

• Operator Handbook: Windows_Structure - pg. 413

• Operator Handbook: Windows_Ports - pg. 365

• Windows local file systems

• Windows registry

  • The Defender's Guide to the Windows Registry

  • Operator Handbook: Windows_Registry - pg. 370

• Windows administration tools

• Active Directory Domain Services overview

Active Directory attack methodology is maintained in Red Offensive.

Attacking Active Directory

Windows command-line and PowerShell references live in Code and CLI.

PowerShell

Windows Event ID references and defensive use cases are maintained in Blue/DFIR.

Windows Event Logs

macOS

• All About macOS

• New to Mac guide

• Getting started in macOS security

• Operator Handbook: MacOS_Commands - pg. 154

• Operator Handbook: MacOS_Defend - pg. 162

• Operator Handbook: MacOS_Ports - pg. 181

• Operator Handbook: MacOS_Structure - pg. 186

macOS DFIR commands are maintained in DFIR.

MacOS DFIR Commands

Computer Science and OS Design

• Computer Science from the Bottom Up

• GeeksforGeeks

• A Short Introduction to Operating Systems

• Think OS

• Operating Systems and Middleware

• Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces

• How to write a simple operating system in assembly language

• How to Make a Computer Operating System

• Project Oberon

• The Little Book About OS Development

• Writing a Simple Operating System from Scratch

• Practical File System Design: The Be File System

• The Art of Unix Programming

• UNIX Application and System Programming lecture notes

• xv6, a simple Unix-like teaching operating system

Adjacent Yellow Sections

Cloud

Yellow - Cloud

Containers

Yellow - Containers

Logging and Security Architecture

Yellow - Logging and Security Architecture

Infrastructure Monitoring

• Netdata - Real-time infrastructure monitoring and troubleshooting for systems, hardware, containers, applications, cloud deployments, and edge/IoT devices.

  • Netdata Cloud