Book Image

The Ultimate Kali Linux Book - Second Edition

By : Glen D. Singh
5 (1)
Book Image

The Ultimate Kali Linux Book - Second Edition

5 (1)
By: Glen D. Singh

Overview of this book

Kali Linux is the most popular and advanced penetration testing Linux distribution within the cybersecurity industry. Using Kali Linux, a cybersecurity professional will be able to discover and exploit various vulnerabilities and perform advanced penetration testing on both enterprise wired and wireless networks. This book is a comprehensive guide for those who are new to Kali Linux and penetration testing that will have you up to speed in no time. Using real-world scenarios, you’ll understand how to set up a lab and explore core penetration testing concepts. Throughout this book, you’ll focus on information gathering and even discover different vulnerability assessment tools bundled in Kali Linux. You’ll learn to discover target systems on a network, identify security flaws on devices, exploit security weaknesses and gain access to networks, set up Command and Control (C2) operations, and perform web application penetration testing. In this updated second edition, you’ll be able to compromise Active Directory and exploit enterprise networks. Finally, this book covers best practices for performing complex web penetration testing techniques in a highly secured environment. By the end of this Kali Linux book, you’ll have gained the skills to perform advanced penetration testing on enterprise networks using Kali Linux.
Table of Contents (23 chapters)
1
Section 1: Getting Started with Penetration Testing
5
Section 2: Reconnaissance and Network Penetration Testing
11
Section 3: Red Teaming Techniques
17
Section 4: Social Engineering and Web Application Attacks

Vulnerability discovery using Nmap

The Nmap Scripting Engine (NSE) is one of the most powerful features within Nmap. It allows penetration testers and security researchers to create, automate, and perform customized scanning on a target system or network. When using NSE, the scanning techniques are usually aggressive and can sometimes create data loss or even crash a target system. However, NSE allows a penetration tester to easily identify security vulnerabilities and whether the target is exploitable.

The following are various categories of scripts within NSE:

  • Auth: This category contains scripts that can scan a target to detect whether authentication bypass is possible.
  • Broadcast: This category contains scripts that are used to discover host systems on a network.
  • Brute: This category contains scripts that are used to perform some types of brute-force attacks on a remote server to gain unauthorized access.
  • Default: This category contains a set of default...