Book Image

Windows and Linux Penetration Testing from Scratch - Second Edition

By : Phil Bramwell
Book Image

Windows and Linux Penetration Testing from Scratch - Second Edition

By: Phil Bramwell

Overview of this book

Let’s be honest—security testing can get repetitive. If you’re ready to break out of the routine and embrace the art of penetration testing, this book will help you to distinguish yourself to your clients. This pen testing book is your guide to learning advanced techniques to attack Windows and Linux environments from the indispensable platform, Kali Linux. You'll work through core network hacking concepts and advanced exploitation techniques that leverage both technical and human factors to maximize success. You’ll also explore how to leverage public resources to learn more about your target, discover potential targets, analyze them, and gain a foothold using a variety of exploitation techniques while dodging defenses like antivirus and firewalls. The book focuses on leveraging target resources, such as PowerShell, to execute powerful and difficult-to-detect attacks. Along the way, you’ll enjoy reading about how these methods work so that you walk away with the necessary knowledge to explain your findings to clients from all backgrounds. Wrapping up with post-exploitation strategies, you’ll be able to go deeper and keep your access. By the end of this book, you'll be well-versed in identifying vulnerabilities within your clients’ environments and providing the necessary insight for proper remediation.
Table of Contents (23 chapters)
1
Part 1: Recon and Exploitation
9
Part 2: Vulnerability Fundamentals
17
Part 3: Post-Exploitation

Python and Scapy – a classy pair

The romance between Python and Scapy was introduced in the second chapter—hey, I couldn’t wait. As a reminder, Scapy is a packet manipulation tool. We often see especially handy tools described as the Swiss Army knife of a certain task; if that’s the case, then Scapy is a surgical scalpel. It’s also, specifically, a Python program, so we can import its power into our scripts. You could write your own network pen testing tool in Python, and I mean any tool; you could replace Nmap, netcat, p0f, hping, and even something such as arpspoof. Let’s take a look at what it takes to create an Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) poisoning attack tool with Python and Scapy.

Revisiting ARP poisoning with Python and Scapy

Let’s take a look at constructing a layer 2 ARP poisoning attack from the bottom up. As before, the code here is a skeleton; with some clever Python wrapped around it, you have the potential to...