Banded Linsang natural history has never been studied in the field and most statements about it are based to a greater or lesser extent on speculation and extrapolation from little real information. It has been recorded in primary and secondary forest and in human-inhabited areas (e.g., Van Rompaey 1993, Ratnam et al. 1995, Azlan 2003, Kawanishi and Sunquist 2004, Wells et al. 2005). Its range coincides well with Sundaic evergreen forest, and although at the northern extent of its range, in Thailand, some records come from survey areas containing both evergreen and deciduous forest, all precisely located records there come from evergreen forest, despite substantial survey effort in deciduous areas (Chutipong et al. 2014). Java is the only other part of its range containing extensive deciduous areas but there has been no collation of records from the island to examine habitat use. Many records come from degraded and/or fragmented forest, and Lim (1973), with more direct experience of the species in the wild than most people who have written about it, considered that it might even be associated with secondary growth and edge habitats. This assessment was based, in part, on analysis of stomach contents, indicating that sightings in such habitats are not simply of animals in transit. Similarly, in both north-east Peninsular Malaysia and in Sarawak, Mohd Azlan J. (pers. comm. 2006) recorded it in secondary forest, including some adjacent to oil palm plantations. By contrast, Brodie et al. (2015) in Malaysian Borneo found lower local prevalence in forests that were selectively logged within the previous 10 years than in unlogged forests; in areas selectively logged more than 10 years previously, local prevalence was intermediate.

The many camera-trap records now available show that Banded Linsang is almost entirely nocturnal (e.g. Jennings and Veron 2015). It appears to be typically solitary and highly carnivorous (Lim 1973, Jennings and Veron 2015). It is a good climber (Van Rompaey 1993) but statements that it is largely arboreal lack strong empirical support. The many camera-trap records now available show that it spends much time on the ground, and factors other than arboreality perhaps explain the relatively low encounter rates; by comparison, the largely sympatric Malay Weasel Mustela nudipes is typically camera-trapped even less frequently than in Banded Linsang, and this is not suspected to reflect arboreality (e.g., Ross et al. 2013). It can live up to ten years and eight months in captivity (Jones 1982).

Banded Linsang occurs in Sundaic South-east Asia (Van Rompaey 1993, Jennings and Veron 2015), including the Thai-Malay Peninsular (Malaysia, e.g. Ratnam et al. 1995, Azlan 2003, Kawanishi and Sunquist 2004; southern Myanmar, e.g., Than Zaw et al. 2008; southern and south western Thailand, e.g. Chutipong et al. 2014); Borneo (Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, e.g. Van Rompaey 1993, Wells et al. 2005); Sumatra (e.g. Holden 2006); and Java (e.g. Suyanto 2003, Rode-Margono et al. 2014), as well as the smaller islands of Bangka and Belitung (Van Rompaey 1993). It is evidently widespread on the Thai-Malay Peninsular, Borneo and Sumatra (Jennings and Veron 2015). On Java, it has been suggested to be perhaps restricted to the west, but there are two historical specimens from the Ijang plateau in East Java (held in Museum für Naturkunde, Humboldt Universität, Berlin, Germany), and, given recent decades' very low levels of small carnivore survey in Java (see, e.g., Riffel 1991), the species's range on Java might be larger than yet documented. The northernmost confirmed record in the world is from Mae Wong National Park, Thailand, at 15°53′N, considerably further north than for the various other Sundaic small carnivores (Chutipong et al. 2014). It perhaps occurs in Myanmar even further north, to about 16°30′N; but this is based on an old record that lacks detail on origin (Steinmetz and Simcharoen 2006). A claim in northern-central Thailand at 17° 54'N (Humphrey and Bain 1990) is probably erroneous (Steinmetz and Simcharoen 2006); it would be biogeographically highly surprising, it lacks detail or verifiable support, and the species is surprisingly often confused with others (Than Zaw et al. 2008). It has been recorded from altitudes ranging from 11 to 2,700 m (Jennings and Veron 2015).

Banded Linsang is listed on CITES Appendix II. In Peninsular Malaysia and in Sabah it receives full protection, but in Sarawak it is not a totally protected species (J. Mathai pers. comm. 2014). It is a totally protected species in Myanmar (Than Zaw et al. 2008) and Thailand under the Wild Animal Reservation and Protection Act 2003 (Chutipong et al. 2014). This species has been recorded in many protected areas across its range. These include, for example, nearly all those comprising evergreen forest that have been surveyed using suitable methodology to sufficient intensity potentially to find the species in its Thai range (Chutipong et al. 2014); comparable compilations do not exist for other parts of its range. A large proportion (over a quarter, as assessed by Jennings and Veron 2015) of suitable habitat in its range is already within gazetted protected areas, indicating a low degree of short-term risk. However, many of these protected areas have little long-term security: forest conversion occurs in many, and if this continues, then the species might become threatened through habitat loss. Although not a priority species for research in South-east Asia, a better understanding of natural history (particularly those facets that would help in the interpretation of survey results for local status assessment) would improve confidence in assessing its global conservation status.