To be effective, the attacker must be able to maintain interactive persistence; they must have a two-way communication channel with the exploited system (interactive) that remains on the compromised system for a long period of time without being discovered (persistence). This type of connectivity is a requirement for the following reasons:
- Network intrusions may be detected, and the compromised systems may be identified and patched
- Some exploits only work once because the vulnerability is intermittent, or because exploitation causes the system to fail or to change, rendering the vulnerability unusable
- Attackers may need to return multiple times to the same target for various reasons
- The target's usefulness is not always immediately known at the time it is compromised
The tool used to maintain interactive persistence is usually referred to by classic terms such...