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Looking for Malware on Linux Systems

In this lab, we'll be investigating a possible malware infection on an Ubuntu Linux host. We'll be looking for specific data points and will document them in a file on the host. Then we'll export the syslog data to a text file for later analysis.

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Path Info

Level
Clock icon Beginner
Duration
Clock icon 30m
Last updated
Clock icon Aug 02, 2025

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Table of Contents

  1. Challenge

    Document data points provided by your supervisor.

    1. Open Gedit to provide a place to save your findings.
    2. Run the command sudo top to open the system performance interface.
    3. Type the letter P to sort by processor utilization. Document the process using the most processor resources.
    4. Type the letter M to sort by memory utilization. Document the process using the most memory resources.
    5. Type Ctrl+c to exit top
    6. Run the command sudo df -h to list out disk space statistics for the server. Identify the percentage of used disk space for /dev/xvda1 and record it.
    7. Run the command sudo w to list active connections to the server. Identify the username of the active connection and record it.
    8. Run the command sudo netstat -a and identify the ESTABLISHED connection. Record the remote IP address of the device connecting to the server.
    9. From within Gedit, save the document on the Desktop as investigation.txt.

  2. Challenge

    Export syslog data to a file.

    Run the following command: sudo cat /var/log/syslog > /home/cloud_user/Desktop/syslog.txt

Pluralsight Skills - Labs - Pluralsight
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Pluralsight Skills

Pluralsight Skills gives leaders confidence they have the skills needed to execute technology strategy. Technology teams can benchmark expertise across roles, speed up release cycles and build reliable, secure products. By leveraging our expert content, skill assessments and one-of-a-kind analytics, keep up with the pace of change, put the right people on the right projects and boost productivity. It's the most effective path to developing tech skills at scale.

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