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Advanced Penetration Testing for Highly-Secured Environments: The Ultimate Security Guide
Advanced Penetration Testing for Highly-Secured Environments: The Ultimate Security Guide

Advanced Penetration Testing for Highly-Secured Environments: The Ultimate Security Guide: Learn to perform professional penetration testing for highly-secured environments with this intensive hands-on guide with this book and ebook.

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Advanced Penetration Testing for Highly-Secured Environments: The Ultimate Security Guide

Chapter 2. Advanced Reconnaissance Techniques

Actionable information is the key to success when performing a penetration test. The amount of public data that is available on the Internet is staggering, and sifting through it all to find useful information can be a daunting task. Luckily, there are tools available that assist in gathering and sorting through this wealth of knowledge. In this chapter, we will be reviewing some of these tools and will focus on how to use the information to ensure your penetration tests are efficient, focused, and effective. Key topics covered include:

  • What is reconnaissance and why do we need it

  • Reconnaissance types

  • Using DNS to quickly identify potential targets

  • Using search engines data

  • Using metadata to your advantage

Note

Throughout this chapter we will use the domain names example.com, example.org, and example.net which are owned and maintained by IANA. DO NOT USE THESE FOR PRACTICE PURPOSES.

These domain names are used as a representation of a domain that you...

Introduction to reconnaissance


Penetration testing is most effective when you have a good grasp on the environment being tested. Sometimes this information will be presented to you by the corporation that hired you, other times you will need to go out and perform your reconnaissance to learn even the most trivial of items. In either case, make sure to have the scope clarified in the rules of engagement prior to conducting any work, including reconnaissance.

Many corporations are not aware of the types of data that can be found and used by attackers in the wild. A penetration tester will need to bring this information to light. You will be providing the business with real data that they can then act upon in accordance to their risk appetite. The information that you will be able to find will vary from target to target, but will typically include items such as IP ranges, domain names, e-mail addresses, public financial data, organizational information, technologies used, job titles, phone numbers...

DNS recon


Domain Name System (DNS) can provide valuable data during the reconnaissance phase. If you do not already understand DNS, you may want to take some time to get a good grasp on the service and how it works. At a very basic level, DNS is used to translate domain names into IP addresses. Luckily for us, there are many tools available that are excellent at extracting the data that we need from nameservers. An example of the information you are able to gather includes:

Record

Description

CNAME

Alias, used to tie many names to a single IP. An IP address can have multiple CNAME records associated with it.

A

Used to translate a domain or subdomain name to a thirty-two bit IP address. It can also store additional useful information.

MX

Ties a domain name to associated mail servers.

There are other record types that can be collected from DNS tools as well; the records listed in the table are the most popular and often, the most useful.

Note

DNS reconnaissance is considered active...

Gathering and validating domain and IP information


When a person or corporate entity registers a domain name there is a lot of information that is gathered. Depending on the registration privacy settings, you can collect this information and use it to verify your IP space, find information about other sites owned by the same individual or corporation, or even phone numbers and addresses of key employees. This type of reconnaissance is considered passive as it does not directly contact client-owned assets to pull information.

We will need to locate the registrar that the domain has been registered with to obtain useful information. Here is a listing of the top registrars.

Gathering information with whois

Domain...

Using search engines to do your job for you


Search engines can produce an absolute overload of information if not used efficiently. Not only can you find information about the financials of your targets, but also information about key employees, usernames and passwords, confidential documents such as network diagrams, information indicating what types of software or hardware you use or have in place, and even if systems are in a default state. This information can be devastating in the wrong hands. As a penetration tester your focus should be to bring this type of information forth and show the clients how it can be used to gain access to the clients' most critical assets (and hopefully, you will tell them how to fix the problem as well!).

Tip

There are search engines that cache information for quick access, and there are search engines that will archive sites and documents for years on end. There are even search engines that focus strictly on networking equipment such as wireless access points...

Summary


In this chapter, we have reviewed many specialized methods of gathering freely available information. Using this information we are able to create a larger picture of the networks we are targeting.

After performing the initial reconnaissance we should be able to determine if the network space provided to us by our clients is accurate. We should also be able to successfully determine which documents are searchable on the Internet and we are able to read the metadata associated with said documents. At this point of a penetration test we should be getting an idea of just how difficult or easy this job will be. One such indicator will be the results you gather from search engines such as Shodan. One last note, be very diligent in collecting the data you have found. Documentation is critical and will make your life as a penetration tester much easier in the long run.

In the next chapter, we will start to put the information we have gathered to use. You will have a chance to directly enumerate...

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Key benefits

  • Learn how to perform an efficient, organized, and effective penetration test from start to finish
  • Gain hands-on penetration testing experience by building and testing a virtual lab environment that includes commonly found security measures such as IDS and firewalls
  • Take the challenge and perform a virtual penetration test against a fictional corporation from start to finish and then verify your results by walking through step-by-step solutions

Description

The internet security field has grown by leaps and bounds over the last decade. Everyday more people around the globe gain access to the internet and not all of them with good intentions. The need for penetration testers has grown now that the security industryhas had time to mature. Simply running a vulnerability scanner is a thing of the past and is no longer an effective method of determining a business's true security posture. Learn effective penetration testing skills so that you can effectively meet and manage the rapidly changing security needs of your company. Advanced Penetration Testing for Highly-Secured Environments will teach you how to efficiently and effectively ensure the security posture of environments that have been secured using IDS/IPS, firewalls, network segmentation, hardened system configurations and more. The stages of a penetration test are clearly defined and addressed using step-by-step instructions that you can follow on your own virtual lab.The book follows the standard penetration testing stages from start to finish with step-by-step examples. The book thoroughly covers penetration test expectations, proper scoping and planning, as well as enumeration and footprinting. You'll learn how to clean up and compile proof of concept, exploit code from the web, advanced web application testing techniques, client side attacks, post exploitation strategies, detection avoidance methods, generation of well defined reports and metrics, and setting up a penetration testing virtual lab that mimics a secured environment. The book closes by issuing a challenge to your skills and ability to perform a full penetration test against a fictional corporation; followed by a detailed walk through of the solution.Advanced Penetration Testing for Highly-Secured Environments is packed with detailed examples that reinforce enumeration, exploitation, post-exploitation, reporting skills and more.

Who is this book for?

If you are looking for guidance and detailed instructions on how to perform a penetration test from start to finish, are looking to build out your own penetration testing lab, or are looking to improve on your existing penetration testing skills, this book is for you. Although the books attempts to accommodate those that are still new to the penetration testing field, experienced testers should be able to gain knowledge and hands-on experience as well. The book does assume that you have some experience in web application testing and as such the chapter regarding this subject may require you to understand the basic concepts of web security. The reader should also be familiar with basic IT concepts, and commonly used protocols such as TCP/IP.

What you will learn

  • Detailed step-by-step guidance on managing testing results and writing clearly organized and effective penetration testing reports
  • Properly scope your penetration test to avoid catastrophe
  • Understand in detail how the testing process works from start to finish, not just how to use specific tools
  • Use advanced techniques to bypass security controls and remain hidden while testing
  • Create a segmented virtual network with several targets, IDS and firewall
  • Generate testing reports and statistics
  • Advanced web application testing and exploitation
  • Perform an efficient, organized, and effective penetration test from start to finish
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Publication date : May 16, 2012
Length: 414 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849517744
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Publication date : May 16, 2012
Length: 414 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781849517744
Vendor :
Offensive Security
Category :
Tools :

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Table of Contents

11 Chapters
Planning and Scoping for a Successful Penetration Test Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Advanced Reconnaissance Techniques Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Enumeration: Choosing Your Targets Wisely Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Remote Exploitation Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Web Application Exploitation Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Exploits and Client-Side Attacks Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Post-Exploitation Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Bypassing Firewalls and Avoiding Detection Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Data Collection Tools and Reporting Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Setting Up Virtual Test Lab Environments Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Take the Challenge – Putting It All Together Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
(23 Ratings)
5 star 47.8%
4 star 21.7%
3 star 17.4%
2 star 8.7%
1 star 4.3%
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Rafa Sep 24, 2012
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
The Book Advanced Penetration Testing for Highly-Secured Environments: The Ultimate Security Guide, make us a tour of each of the phases involved in the Pentesting. Starting from the basics to conducting and reporting the same. If you have some knowledge of offensive computer security and want to deepen your knowledge, this book is for you. Most Pentesting teach basic courses to some extent leaving out field closely related in real life as evasion of network systems.I like in this book is to teach you not to depend on remote labs that will eventually generate considerable expense, with the only requirement a computer update, as it will need to virtualize multiple systems and that the virtual platform you are going to develop will serve you in your future to continue further studies.It is a book I recommend to have in your library studies to further advance your career, the tools to which they refer are open source so they will not have many problems in implementing the virtualization platform and make the recommended practices.
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John Brown Jun 04, 2015
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great information in this book
Amazon Verified review Amazon
A. Student Sep 27, 2012
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
"This book is an excellent walkthrough of how to profitably use the immense toolbox available to the penetration tester. If you've only dipped into a few of the tools that are pre-installed in Back|Track, this book will introduce you to many of the other tools, their capabilities and how they can be used in a penetration testing engagement.However, this is not just a catalog and instruction manual for tools; Allen spends a lot of time talking about the penetration testing process including how to plan for one, consulting with the client to set appropriate scope and expectations and all the other details that set the professional penetration tester apart from the tool-focused amateur.Allen includes an excellent chapter on building a lab to follow along and try out the many techniques illustrated in the book. The book concludes with a challenge chapter that walks through an example penetration test.Most definitely a worthwhile read for technical security professionals and aspiring penetration testers."
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Po Foon Kwong Oct 04, 2012
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Eventually, a step-by-step guide on how to perform a penetration testing instead of just another book throwing tons of tools and ask readers to try one by one...Instead of explaining stages of penetration testing and throwing tools for each step, this book uses examples with instructions, guiding readers how to do the job directly - from setting up the virtual lab environment, to which tool to use, and then step-by-step instruction on how to use the tool to do the job. Anybody with just a basic understanding on *nix system will be able to follow the book easily, and eventually have an idea on what the penetration testing is after finishing the book.Definitely it doesn't cover everything, but it actually covers quite a lot of common scenarios - from exploitation of a single machine directly connected, to that of multiple machines of different operating systems behind firewall. The scenarios go a little bit more complex as the author explains different stages of penetration testing. The author did an excellent job in keeping the learning curve low.I highly recommend anybody who want to learn penetration testing to get this book. This is also suitable for those who tried pentesting courses like OSCP but found that the learning curve is too steep and eventually give up. It definitely helps bridging the gap.
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Kindle Customer Dec 23, 2012
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The book shows a comprehensive base of knowledge for learning the basics of computer/network security. More then this book will be required to fully learn what you MUST know to be considered an expert ,but this book will get you started down the right path.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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