Summary
In this chapter, we focused on Windows and COM automation. COM can be used to automate Windows applications such as Word, Excel, and Outlook. Adversaries can leverage these technologies during post-exploitation. We explored automation techniques to send emails, encrypt content, and/or exfiltrate data via COM. In particular, we looked at automating Microsoft Outlook, Word, and Excel.
Furthermore, we highlighted how COM automation can be leveraged to search through Office documents at scale to identify secrets or other interesting content.
Later, we explored browsers and how an adversary can leverage web browser automation techniques to remote control web browsers to exfiltrated data or spy on users. For the browser scenarios, we looked at native COM automation for Internet Explorer and then the remote debugging feature of Chrome.
Furthermore, we configured Chrome and Selenium WebDrivers to automate various browsers.
In the next chapter, we will explore how to...