Table of Contents for
Kali Linux 2 – Assuring Security by Penetration Testing - Third Edition

Version ebook / Retour

Cover image for bash Cookbook, 2nd Edition Kali Linux 2 – Assuring Security by Penetration Testing - Third Edition by Gerard Johansen Published by Packt Publishing, 2016
  1. Cover
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Kali Linux 2 – Assuring Security by Penetration Testing Third Edition
  4. Kali Linux 2 – Assuring Security by Penetration Testing Third Edition
  5. Credits
  6. Disclaimer
  7. About the Authors
  8. About the Reviewer
  9. www.PacktPub.com
  10. Preface
  11. What you need for this book
  12. Who this book is for
  13. Conventions
  14. Reader feedback
  15. Customer support
  16. 1. Beginning with Kali Linux
  17. Kali Linux tool categories
  18. Downloading Kali Linux
  19. Using Kali Linux
  20. Configuring the virtual machine
  21. Updating Kali Linux
  22. Network services in Kali Linux
  23. Installing a vulnerable server
  24. Installing additional weapons
  25. Summary
  26. 2. Penetration Testing Methodology
  27. Vulnerability assessment versus penetration testing
  28. Security testing methodologies
  29. General penetration testing framework
  30. Information gathering
  31. The ethics
  32. Summary
  33. 3. Target Scoping
  34. Preparing the test plan
  35. Profiling test boundaries
  36. Defining business objectives
  37. Project management and scheduling
  38. Summary
  39. 4. Information Gathering
  40. Using public resources
  41. Querying the domain registration information
  42. Analyzing the DNS records
  43. Getting network routing information
  44. Utilizing the search engine
  45. Metagoofil
  46. Accessing leaked information
  47. Summary
  48. 5. Target Discovery
  49. Identifying the target machine
  50. OS fingerprinting
  51. Summary
  52. 6. Enumerating Target
  53. Understanding the TCP/IP protocol
  54. Understanding the TCP and UDP message format
  55. The network scanner
  56. Unicornscan
  57. Zenmap
  58. Amap
  59. SMB enumeration
  60. SNMP enumeration
  61. VPN enumeration
  62. Summary
  63. 7. Vulnerability Mapping
  64. Vulnerability taxonomy
  65. Automated vulnerability scanning
  66. Network vulnerability scanning
  67. Web application analysis
  68. Fuzz analysis
  69. Database assessment tools
  70. Summary
  71. 8. Social Engineering
  72. Attack process
  73. Attack methods
  74. Social Engineering Toolkit
  75. Summary
  76. 9. Target Exploitation
  77. Vulnerability and exploit repositories
  78. Advanced exploitation toolkit
  79. MSFConsole
  80. MSFCLI
  81. Ninja 101 drills
  82. Writing exploit modules
  83. Summary
  84. 10. Privilege Escalation
  85. Password attack tools
  86. Network spoofing tools
  87. Network sniffers
  88. Summary
  89. 11. Maintaining Access
  90. Working with tunneling tools
  91. Creating web backdoors
  92. Summary
  93. 12. Wireless Penetration Testing
  94. Wireless network recon
  95. Wireless testing tools
  96. Post cracking
  97. Sniffing wireless traffic
  98. Summary
  99. 13. Kali Nethunter
  100. Installing Kali Nethunter
  101. Nethunter icons
  102. Nethunter tools
  103. Third-party applications
  104. Wireless attacks
  105. HID attacks
  106. Summary
  107. 14. Documentation and Reporting
  108. Types of reports
  109. The executive report
  110. The management report
  111. The technical report
  112. Network penetration testing report (sample contents)
  113. Preparing your presentation
  114. Post-testing procedures
  115. Summary
  116. A. Supplementary Tools
  117. Web application tools
  118. Network tool
  119. Summary
  120. B. Key Resources
  121. Paid incentive programs
  122. Reverse engineering resources
  123. Penetration testing learning resources
  124. Exploit development learning resources
  125. Penetration testing on a vulnerable environment
  126. Online web application challenges
  127. Virtual machines and ISO images
  128. Network ports
  129. Index

Chapter 8. Social Engineering

Social engineering is the practice of learning and obtaining valuable information by exploiting human vulnerabilities. It is an art of deception that is considered to be vital for a penetration tester when there is a lack of information about the target that can be exploited. As people are the weakest link in the security defense of any organization, this is the most vulnerable layer in the security infrastructure. We are social creatures, and thus our nature makes us vulnerable to social engineering attacks. Social engineers employ these attacks to obtain confidential information, or gain access to restricted areas. Social engineering takes different forms of attack vectors; each is limited by one's imagination, based on the influence and direction under which it is being executed. This chapter will discuss the core principles and practices adopted by professional social engineers to manipulate humans into divulging information or performing an act.

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

  • The basic psychological principles that formulate the goals and vision of a social engineer
  • The generic attack process and methods of social engineering followed by real-world examples

From a security perspective, social engineering is a powerful weapon used for manipulating people, in order to achieve a desired goal. In many organizations, this practice can be evaluated to ensure the security integrity of the employees and investigate the process, and human weaknesses. Note that the practice of social engineering is all too common and is adopted by a range of individuals, including penetration testers, scam artists, identity thieves, business partners, job recruiters, sales people, information brokers, telemarketers, government spies, disgruntled employees, and even children in their daily life. The differentiating factor between these diverse individuals is the motivation by which social engineers execute their tactics against the target.

Modeling the human psychology

Human psychological capabilities depend on the senses that provide an input. These are used to form a perception of reality. This natural phenomenon categorizes the human senses into sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell, balance and acceleration, temperature, kinesthetic, pain, and direction. The utilization of these senses effectively develops and maintains the method by which we perceive the world. From a social engineering perspective, any information retrieved or extracted from the target via the dominant senses (visual or auditory), eye movements (eye contact, verbal discrepancies, blink rate, or eye cues), facial expressions (surprise, happiness, fear, sadness, anger, or disgust), and other abstract entities observed or felt, may add a greater probability of success. Often, it is necessary for a social engineer to directly communicate with the target in order to obtain the confidential information or access restricted zones. This communication can be performed physically, or by using electronic-assisted technology. In the real world, two common tactics are applied to accomplish this task: interview and interrogation. However, in practice, each tactic includes other factors such as environment, knowledge of the target, and the ability to control the frame of communication. These combined factors (communication, environment, knowledge, and frame control) construct the basic set of skills used by an effective social engineer to draw attention towards the goals and vision of a social engineering attack. All social engineering activity relies on a relationship of trust. If you cannot build a strong trust relationship with your target, then you will most likely fail in your endeavor.

Note

Modern day social engineering has almost become a science. Be sure to visit the website of the Social Engineering Framework creators at http://www.social-engineer.org/. Christopher Hadnagy, who runs the site and has published material on the subject of social engineering, has done an excellent job of making this information available to the public so that we may attempt to educate our users and clients on how these attacks occur.