Book Image

Learn Penetration Testing

By : Rishalin Pillay
Book Image

Learn Penetration Testing

By: Rishalin Pillay

Overview of this book

Sending information via the internet is not entirely private, as evidenced by the rise in hacking, malware attacks, and security threats. With the help of this book, you'll learn crucial penetration testing techniques to help you evaluate enterprise defenses. You'll start by understanding each stage of pentesting and deploying target virtual machines, including Linux and Windows. Next, the book will guide you through performing intermediate penetration testing in a controlled environment. With the help of practical use cases, you'll also be able to implement your learning in real-world scenarios. By studying everything from setting up your lab, information gathering and password attacks, through to social engineering and post exploitation, you'll be able to successfully overcome security threats. The book will even help you leverage the best tools, such as Kali Linux, Metasploit, Burp Suite, and other open source pentesting tools to perform these techniques. Toward the later chapters, you'll focus on best practices to quickly resolve security threats. By the end of this book, you'll be well versed with various penetration testing techniques so as to be able to tackle security threats effectively

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Table of Contents (21 chapters)
Preface
Preface
Who this book is for
What this book covers
To get the most out of this book
Get in touch
Disclaimer
Free Chapter
1
Section 1: The Basics
Section 1: The Basics
2
Introduction to Penetration Testing
Introduction to Penetration Testing
Technical requirements
What is penetration testing?
Stages of a penetration test
Getting started with your lab
Creating virtual machines in VMware, Hyper-V, and VirtualBox
Summary
Questions
3
Getting Started with Kali Linux
Getting Started with Kali Linux
Technical requirements
An introduction to Kali Linux
Installing and configuring Kali Linux
Basic commands in Kali Linux
Scripting in Kali Linux
The essential tools of Kali Linux
Summary
Questions
4
Section 2: Exploitation
Section 2: Exploitation
5
Performing Information Gathering
Performing Information Gathering
Technical requirements
Passive information gathering
Active information gathering
Vulnerability scanning
Capturing traffic
Summary
Questions
6
Mastering Social Engineering
Mastering Social Engineering
Technical requirements
What is social engineering?
Social engineering tools
Creating a social engineering campaign
Summary
Questions
7
Diving into the Metasploit Framework
Diving into the Metasploit Framework
Technical requirements
Introducing Metasploit
Finding modules
Adding modules
Metasploit options, shells, and payloads
Working with MSFvenom
Summary
Questions
8
Understanding Password Attacks
Understanding Password Attacks
Technical requirements
Introduction to password attacks
Working with wordlists
Offline password attacks
Online password attacks
Dumping passwords from memory
Summary
Questions
9
Working with Burp Suite
Working with Burp Suite
Technical requirements
Understanding Burp Suite
Preparing your environment
Exploring and configuring Burp Suite components
Summary
Questions
10
Attacking Web Applications
Attacking Web Applications
Technical requirements
Preparing your environment
Types of web application security testing
The components of a web application
Understanding the HTTP protocol
Common web application attacks
Attacking web applications
Summary
Questions
11
Getting Started with Wireless Attacks
Getting Started with Wireless Attacks
Technical requirements
Exploring wireless attacks
Compatible hardware
Wireless attack tools
Cracking WEP, WPA, and WPA2
Summary
Questions
12
Section 3: Post Exploitation
Section 3: Post Exploitation
13
Moving Laterally and Escalating Your Privileges
Moving Laterally and Escalating Your Privileges
Technical requirements
Discovering post-exploitation techniques
Preparing your environment
Performing post-exploitation attacks
Summary
Questions
14
Antivirus Evasion
Antivirus Evasion
Technical requirements
The evolution of antivirus technologies
Concepts of antivirus evasion
Getting started with antivirus evasion
Testing evasion techniques
Summary
Questions
15
Maintaining Control within the Environment
Maintaining Control within the Environment
Technical requirements
The importance of maintaining access
Techniques used to maintain access
Using tools for persistence
Summary
Questions
16
Section 4: Putting It All Together
Section 4: Putting It All Together
17
Reporting and Acting on Your Findings
Reporting and Acting on Your Findings
Technical requirements
The importance of a penetration testing report
What goes into a penetration test report?
Tools for report writing
Recommending remediation options
Summary
Questions
18
Where Do I Go from Here?
Where Do I Go from Here?
Technical requirements
Knowledge maintenance
Toolkit maintenance
Purposefully vulnerable resources
Summary
19
Assessments
Assessments
Chapter 1: Introduction to Penetration Testing
Chapter 2: Getting Started with Kali Linux
Chapter 3: Performing Information Gathering
Chapter 4: Mastering Social Engineering
Chapter 5: Diving into the Metasploit Framework
Chapter 6: Understanding Password Attacks
Chapter 7: Working with Burp Suite
Chapter 8: Attacking Web Applications
Chapter 9: Getting Started with Wireless Attacks
Chapter 10: Moving Laterally and Escalating your Privileges
Chapter 11: Antivirus Evasion
Chapter 12: Maintaining Control within the Environment
Chapter 13: Reporting and Acting on Your Findings
20
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Getting started with your lab

As you work through this book, you will learn how to use different tools in a controlled environment. In order to have a controlled environment, we will need to build one.

There are three options that we have for building a penetration lab. These are as follows:

  • Using a cloud provider: Cloud providers such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud give you the flexibility and scalability of deploying systems at a fraction of the cost compared to purchasing dedicated hardware. The only catch with using a cloud provider is that you would probably require permission to perform penetration tests on your deployed services.
  • Using a high-powered laptop or desktop with virtualization software: As high-powered laptops and desktops are relatively cheap, this would be the option that many prefer. By using virtualization software such as Microsoft...
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