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Learn Penetration Testing
Learn Penetration Testing

Learn Penetration Testing: Understand the art of penetration testing and develop your white hat hacker skills

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Profile Icon Rishalin Pillay
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Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.7 (3 Ratings)
Paperback May 2019 424 pages 1st Edition
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zł59.99 zł141.99
Paperback
zł177.99
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Arrow left icon
Profile Icon Rishalin Pillay
Arrow right icon
Free Trial
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.7 (3 Ratings)
Paperback May 2019 424 pages 1st Edition
eBook
zł59.99 zł141.99
Paperback
zł177.99
Subscription
Free Trial
eBook
zł59.99 zł141.99
Paperback
zł177.99
Subscription
Free Trial

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Table of content icon View table of contents Preview book icon Preview Book

Learn Penetration Testing

Introduction to Penetration Testing

In this chapter, we begin our journey by building a solid foundation. Having a good understanding of the basics of penetration testing will help you conduct a successful penetration test, as opposed to haphazardly scanning networks and performing tests blindly. We will define penetration testing and how it differs from other security assessments. Before the actual penetration test occurs, there are a few things that need to be done in order to ensure that the correct authorization is in place and the correct scope is defined. Every successful penetration testing student requires a lab environment—it can be daunting to build one, but don't despair. We will look at what options exist for a lab environment.

As you progress through the chapter, you will learn the following:

  • What is penetration testing?
  • Stages of a penetration test
  • Getting...

Technical requirements

The following technical requirements are required for this chapter:

  • Kali Linux version 2019.1
  • Any hypervisor, such as VMware, Hyper-V, or Virtualbox

What is penetration testing?

Today, penetration testing is often confused with vulnerability assessments, red team assessments, and other security assessments. However, there are some differences between them, as follows:

  • Vulnerability assessment: This is the process of identifying vulnerabilities and risks in systems. In a vulnerability assessment, the vulnerability is not exploited. It merely highlights the risks so that the business can identify the risks and plan for remediation.
  • Penetration testing: This is the authorized process of finding and using vulnerabilities to perform an intrusion into a network, application, or host in a predefined time frame. Penetration testing can be conducted by an internal team or an external third party. Penetration testing goes one step further as opposed to a vulnerability assessment, in that a penetration test exploits the vulnerability...

Stages of a penetration test

Now that you understand what penetration testing is, you may be wondering what the flow of a penetration test is. Penetration testing has a number of stages, and each stage forms an important part of the overall penetration test.

There are various standards that relate to penetration testing. This book does not follow any one of them specifically. There are other known standards, such as the following:

The following stages follow the Penetration Testing Execution Standard (PTES), which I found to be a great starting point. The full standard can be found at http://www.pentest-standard.org/.

...

Getting started with your lab

As you work through this book, you will learn how to use different tools in a controlled environment. In order to have a controlled environment, we will need to build one.

There are three options that we have for building a penetration lab. These are as follows:

  • Using a cloud provider: Cloud providers such as Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud give you the flexibility and scalability of deploying systems at a fraction of the cost compared to purchasing dedicated hardware. The only catch with using a cloud provider is that you would probably require permission to perform penetration tests on your deployed services.
  • Using a high-powered laptop or desktop with virtualization software: As high-powered laptops and desktops are relatively cheap, this would be the option that many prefer. By using virtualization software such as Microsoft...

Creating virtual machines in VMware, Hyper-V, and VirtualBox

Leveraging a hypervisor enables you to build your lab environment with minimal hardware costs. Any decent laptop or desktop these days is able to run hypervisor software. When you use your hypervisor of choice, make sure that you configure the virtual networks appropriately. For example, if you require your VMs to be isolated, then you would use host only. If you require your virtual machine to have internet access, you could use network address translation or bridged networking. The difference between network address translation and bridged networking is that, with bridged networking, your virtual machine will obtain its own IP address, whereas with network address translation, your virtual machine will leverage your hosts, IP address to communicate externally.

Note that the options might differ between the different...

Summary

In this chapter, we began to build a solid foundation as you learned about penetration testing and how it differs from vulnerability and red team assessments. We defined the importance of leveraging a methodology or standard for penetration testing, such as the PTES standard and the various phases within it. Within each phase, we discussed what is involved and highlighted some important facets that should not be overlooked, such as the "get out of jail free card". Lastly, we looked at a lab environment, the various hypervisors that currently exist, and how to build a Metasploitable lab environment for future use.

In the next chapter (Chapter 2, Getting Started with Kali Linux), we will dive into Kali Linux to explore the different install options for Kali Linux and some initial configuration that is required. We will explore some of the essential tools within...

Questions

  1. What is the purpose of penetration testing?
  2. Name at least two penetration testing standards.
  3. Why is it important to scope a penetration test?
  4. Name at least two threat modeling methodologies.
  5. Why is Metasploitable different from other vulnerable machines?
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Key benefits

  • Enhance your penetration testing skills to tackle security threats
  • Learn to gather information, find vulnerabilities, and exploit enterprise defenses
  • Navigate secured systems with the most up-to-date version of Kali Linux (2019.1) and Metasploit (5.0.0)

Description

Sending information via the internet is not entirely private, as evidenced by the rise in hacking, malware attacks, and security threats. With the help of this book, you'll learn crucial penetration testing techniques to help you evaluate enterprise defenses. You'll start by understanding each stage of pentesting and deploying target virtual machines, including Linux and Windows. Next, the book will guide you through performing intermediate penetration testing in a controlled environment. With the help of practical use cases, you'll also be able to implement your learning in real-world scenarios. By studying everything from setting up your lab, information gathering and password attacks, through to social engineering and post exploitation, you'll be able to successfully overcome security threats. The book will even help you leverage the best tools, such as Kali Linux, Metasploit, Burp Suite, and other open source pentesting tools to perform these techniques. Toward the later chapters, you'll focus on best practices to quickly resolve security threats. By the end of this book, you'll be well versed with various penetration testing techniques so as to be able to tackle security threats effectively

Who is this book for?

If you’re just getting started with penetration testing and want to explore various security domains, this book is for you. Security professionals, network engineers, and amateur ethical hackers will also find this book useful. Prior knowledge of penetration testing and ethical hacking is not necessary.

What you will learn

  • Perform entry-level penetration tests by learning various concepts and techniques
  • Understand both common and not-so-common vulnerabilities from an attacker s perspective
  • Get familiar with intermediate attack methods that can be used in real-world scenarios
  • Understand how vulnerabilities are created by developers and how to fix some of them at source code level
  • Become well versed with basic tools for ethical hacking purposes
  • Exploit known vulnerable services with tools such as Metasploit

Product Details

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Publication date, Length, Edition, Language, ISBN-13
Publication date : May 31, 2019
Length: 424 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781838640163
Vendor :
Offensive Security
Category :
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Product Details

Publication date : May 31, 2019
Length: 424 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781838640163
Vendor :
Offensive Security
Category :
Tools :

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Table of Contents

20 Chapters
Section 1: The Basics Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Introduction to Penetration Testing Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Getting Started with Kali Linux Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Section 2: Exploitation Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Performing Information Gathering Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Mastering Social Engineering Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Diving into the Metasploit Framework Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Understanding Password Attacks Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Working with Burp Suite Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Attacking Web Applications Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Getting Started with Wireless Attacks Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Section 3: Post Exploitation Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Moving Laterally and Escalating Your Privileges Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Antivirus Evasion Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Maintaining Control within the Environment Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Section 4: Putting It All Together Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Reporting and Acting on Your Findings Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Where Do I Go from Here? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Assessments Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Other Books You May Enjoy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.7
(3 Ratings)
5 star 66.7%
4 star 33.3%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 0%
Cocogirl Sep 11, 2023
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
An excellent resource for anyone interested in learning about ethical hacking and penetration testing.Overall a valuable resource for aspiring ethical hackers and cybersecurity enthusiasts. It equips readers with the knowledge and skills needed to understand vulnerabilities, assess risks, and secure systems effectively. Whether you're pursuing a career in cybersecurity or simply looking to enhance your knowledge of ethical hacking, this book is an excellent choice.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Sash Sep 12, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
The author explains techniques in simple-to-understand concepts while backing them up with great examples. Fantastic resource for those looking to step into penetration testing or understand how adversaries think and act. The format makes the book easy to read, and the logical order of the book makes it a great reference material.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Warren Aug 29, 2019
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon 4
This book is an excellent resource for getting into this challenging topic. I particularly enjoy the way the author explains complex concepts in a simple and methodical way which makes them easy to follow despite me not having a Cyber Security background. I found this book to be a great starting point for getting into the world of penetraion testing.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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