Chapter 2. Understanding the Phases of the Pentesting Process

In the early days of information technology (IT), there wasn't a need to be concerned about any security threats or weaknesses in a system. With the advancement of technologies and mobile devices, a lot of persons seek to understand the art of exploiting computing systems and networks. The creation of the internet was a major milestone that improved the sharing and availability of information not only within an institution but globally. As information and knowledge became more readily available, a lot of people leveraged it for both good and bad purposes in the digital world.

Imagine a person simply sitting at home surfing the internet, researching methods and techniques of taking advantage of a vulnerability/weakness on another person's computer or network. That's quite scary, isn't it? A simple example is a disgruntled employee within an organization who works as administrative staff, who isn’t knowledgeable about the field of...