Book Image

Mastering Kali Linux for Web Penetration Testing

By : Michael McPhee
Book Image

Mastering Kali Linux for Web Penetration Testing

By: Michael McPhee

Overview of this book

You will start by delving into some common web application architectures in use, both in private and public cloud instances. You will also learn about the most common frameworks for testing, such as OWASP OGT version 4, and how to use them to guide your efforts. In the next section, you will be introduced to web pentesting with core tools and you will also see how to make web applications more secure through rigorous penetration tests using advanced features in open source tools. The book will then show you how to better hone your web pentesting skills in safe environments that can ensure low-risk experimentation with the powerful tools and features in Kali Linux that go beyond a typical script-kiddie approach. After establishing how to test these powerful tools safely, you will understand how to better identify vulnerabilities, position and deploy exploits, compromise authentication and authorization, and test the resilience and exposure applications possess. By the end of this book, you will be well-versed with the web service architecture to identify and evade various protection mechanisms that are used on the Web today. You will leave this book with a greater mastery of essential test techniques needed to verify the secure design, development, and operation of your customers' web applications.
Table of Contents (13 chapters)

Educating the Customer and Finishing Up

If you have made it so far, thank you! You have done it – you've learned with me how to tackle web penetration testing, to treat it with the focus and detail needed to improve your customers' security posture. Web penetration testing is a beast and worthy of specialization and mastery. As we've seen in this book, there is a bewildering variety of vulnerability types, and the fact that they are easy to exploit can make them very easy to take advantage of. Enterprises have significant concerns across the entire enterprise, but in a way, their web applications are necessarily the most vulnerable aspect. How can they best secure the very tools that engage most with users outside their control?

Many web application developers and their employers have purchased tools to provide safe and secure operations. Good intentions...