Bandit Wargame

I am going to be creating a walkthrough the for OverTheWire wargame called Bandit. Bandit is OTW’s introductory wargame that is designed to provide a basic look at all of the very interesting and useful things you can do in the command line. I wanted to do this for a number of reasons. First and foremost, is that in a number of my previous jobs I found that a majority of new SysAdmins seem to be very uncomfortable in the command line. This is not necessarily a terrible thing, as GUI controls have gotten much better over the years. However, there are still some things that can only be done via CLI (such as configuring a RADIUS server), and I feel it is important to at least have a grounding in the basics.

In a previous job I had suggested that Bandit levels be assigned as “homework” for individuals that wanted to improve their CLI understanding, and the results were remarkable. This encouraged me to continue on with it myself, and despite being the most proficient of the group, even I learned a lot in the later levels. So, why am I doing a walkthrough when the entire purpose of the game is to figure it out on your own? For a few reasons:

1. Writing it out will help me solidify, for myself, the concepts that I am shaky on.
2. There will be times when you have simply exhausted your knowledge and research skills, and just need a push in the right direction.
3. If you get completely stuck on a level, I hope that giving you the answer will encourage research and keep you moving forward, rather than giving up all together.

So, how is this going to work? Below will be a link to the walkthroughs for each level. On those pages you will find a description of the problem and a link to OTW page for that level. Below that will be a general hint for those that are stuck and want to be pointed in the right direction. Further down will be the actual solution, with all of the commands you need to solve the problem for yourself.

Please keep in mind that there are often more than one way to solve a problem. I can’t promise that I have the most efficient or best way for every level. If you find a better solution, please feel free to let me know and I’d be happy to include it.

So, without further ado:

• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 0
• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 1
• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 2
• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 3
• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 4
• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 5
• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 6
• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 7
• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 8
• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 9
• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 10
• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 11
• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 12
• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 13
• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 14
• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 15
• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 16
• Bandit Walkthrough – Level 17