Preface

For more than a decade or so, the use of technology has been rising exponentially. Almost all businesses are partially or completely dependent on the use of technology. From Bitcoin to the cloud to the Internet of Things (IoT), new technologies are popping up each day. While these technologies completely change the way we do things, they also bring threats along with them. Attackers discover new and innovative ways to manipulate these technologies for fun and profit! This is a matter of concern to thousands of organizations and businesses around the world. Organizations worldwide are deeply concerned about keeping their data safe. Protecting data is certainly important; however, testing whether adequate protection mechanisms have been put in place is equally important. Protection mechanisms can fail, hence testing them before someone exploits them for real is a challenging task. Having said that, vulnerability assessment and penetration testing have gained great importance and are now trivially included in all compliance programs. With vulnerability assessment and penetration testing done in the right way, organizations can ensure that they have put in the right security controls and they are functioning as expected! For many, the process of vulnerability assessment and penetration testing may look easy just by running an automated scanner and generating a long report with false positives. However, in reality, this process is not just about running tools but a complete life cycle. Fortunately, the Metasploit Framework can be plugged into almost every phase of the penetration testing life cycle, making complex tasks easier. This book will take you through some of the absolute basics of Metasploit Framework 5.x to the advanced and sophisticated features that the framework has to offer!