Book Image

Kali Linux 2: Windows Penetration Testing

Book Image

Kali Linux 2: Windows Penetration Testing

Overview of this book

Microsoft Windows is one of the two most common OS and managing its security has spawned the discipline of IT security. Kali Linux is the premier platform for testing and maintaining Windows security. Kali is built on the Debian distribution of Linux and shares the legendary stability of that OS. This lets you focus on using the network penetration, password cracking, forensics tools and not the OS. This book has the most advanced tools and techniques to reproduce the methods used by sophisticated hackers to make you an expert in Kali Linux penetration testing. First, you are introduced to Kali's top ten tools and other useful reporting tools. Then, you will find your way around your target network and determine known vulnerabilities to be able to exploit a system remotely. Next, you will prove that the vulnerabilities you have found are real and exploitable. You will learn to use tools in seven categories of exploitation tools. Further, you perform web access exploits using tools like websploit and more. Security is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain. Passwords are often that weak link. Thus, you learn about password attacks that can be used in concert with other approaches to break into and own a network. Moreover, you come to terms with network sniffing, which helps you understand which users are using services you can exploit, and IP spoofing, which can be used to poison a system's DNS cache. Once you gain access to a machine or network, maintaining access is important. Thus, you not only learn penetrating in the machine you also learn Windows privilege’s escalations. With easy to follow step-by-step instructions and support images, you will be able to quickly pen test your system and network.
Table of Contents (12 chapters)
11
Index

Choosing the appropriate time and tool


Black Hats will pick the busiest times to hit your network and do it as slowly and quietly as possible. They will try to stay under the noise of normal operation. Yes, there are more eyes on the network at that time, but a smart cracker knows that if they are slow and quiet, heavy traffic is a good cover. If you have good intel on the workflows and staffing of the target company, you might choose to attack at a sparsely staffed moment, such as weekends or holidays. This often works better at smaller companies.

If you're the Security Operations guy and you're testing your own network, this is not a good idea. Test during your off hours – it's best when the CEO is asleep. If any accidents happen during the test, things can be fixed and running properly before the next day when the CEO is awake. Exploitation doesn't normally kill a system beyond repair during testing, but some exploits will sometimes hang a service or completely hang the system to the...