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

Chapter 4: Windows Passwords on the Network

Few technologies have molded modern information security quite like the Windows password. The sheer popularity of the Windows operating system (OS) has resulted in intense scrutiny of its methods and their security. When more eyes are examining the security of an authentication system, there are more lessons to inform growth and improvement. On the other hand, a major goal of Windows implementations is backward compatibility. What this means in practice is that older and weaker methods are often found in today’s IT environments, even when a more secure version is available, and even when that more secure version is enabled in the same environment. In this chapter, we’ll be discussing some technology that’s literally more than two decades old, and you might wonder, do we really need to be looking at this anymore? The answer is, sadly, yes. Your clients will have their reasons for configuring their systems to support security...