metasploit

Penetration testing is a uniquely challenging job. You are paid to think like a criminal, to use guerilla tactics to your advantage, and to find the weakest links in a highly intricate net of defenses. The things you find can be both surprising and disturbing; penetration tests have uncovered everything from rogue pornography sites to large-scale fraud and criminal activity.

Penetration testing is a way for you to simulate the methods that an attacker might use to circumvent security controls and gain access to an organization’s systems. Penetration testing is more than running scannners and automated tools and then writing a report. And you won’t become an expert penetration tester overnight; it takes years of practice and real-world experience to become proficient.

The Penetration Testing Execution Standard (PTE)S

Following are the main sections defined by the standard as the basis for penetration testing execution:

Pre-engagement Interactions
Intelligence Gathering
Threat Modeling
Vulnerability Analysis
Exploitation
Post Exploitation
Reporting

Pre-engagement Interactions Pre-engagement interactions typically occur when you discuss the scope and terms of the penetration test with your client. It is critical during pre-engagement that you convey the goals of the engagement. This stage also serves as your opportunity to educate your customer about what is to be expected from a thorough, full-scope penetration test—one without restrictions regarding what can and will be tested during the engagement.

Intelligence Gathering In the intelligence gathering phase, you will gather any information you can about the organization you are attacking by using social-media networks, Google hacking, footprinting the target, and so on. One of the most impor- tant skills a penetration tester can have is the ability to learn about a target, including how it behaves, how it operates, and how it ultimately can be attacked. The information that you gather about your target will give you valuable insight into the types of security controls in place

In some cases, it might make sense to run very noisy scans from an entirely different IP range other than the one you will be using for the main attack. This will help you deter- mine how well the organization responds to the tools you are using.

Threat Modeling Threat modeling uses the information you acquired in the intelligence-gathering phase to identify any existing vulnerabilities on a target system. When perform- ing threat modeling, you will determine the most effective attack method, the type of information you are after, and how the organization might be attacked. Threat modeling involves looking at an organization as an adversary and attempting to exploit weaknesses as an attacker would.

Vulnerability Analysis Having identified the most viable attack methods, you need to consider how you will access the target. During vulnerability analysis, you combine the infor- mation that you’ve learned from the prior phases and use it to understand what attacks might be viable. Among other things, vulnerability analysis takes into account port and vulnerability scans, data gathered by banner grabbing, and information collected during intelligence gathering.

gence gathering and vulnerability analysis are as expert as possible, to give you an advantage in adapting to scenarios as they present themselve.s