Use offense to inform defense. Find flaws before the bad guys do.
Copyright SANS Institute Author Retains Full Rights
This paper is from the SANS Penetration Testing site. Reposting is not permited without express written permission.
Interested in learning more?
Check out the list of upcoming events offering "Hacker Techniques, Exploits & Incident Handling (SEC504)" at https://pen-testing.sans.org/events/
Key fingerprint = AF19 FA27 2F94 998D FDB5 DE3D F8B5 06E4 A169 4E46
A Management Guide to Penetration Testing David A. Shinberg
© SANS Institute 2003,
©
SA
NS
In
sti
tu
As part of GIAC practical repository.
te
20
03
,A
ut
ho
rr
Version 2.1a
eta
Practical Assignment
…show more content…
It will include suggested items that should be present in the report given to the owner of the network being tested. In addition to the list of vulnerabilities detected, corrective actions are an important part of the final report.
1.1 Scope
2. Preparation
2.1 Technical Preparation
A good penetration tester must be technically competent and methodical. In many situations, a test team is more appropriate than an individual tester. 2 Care must be taken in selecting, installing and configuring the platforms used to perform the testing. Although there are several commercial tools that can be used to perform penetration tests such as Internet Scanner® from Internet Security Systems3, free tools will be used throughout this testing. Kurtz and Prosise make an excellent point when they claim; “Running a commercial vulnerability scanner is penetration testing” is a myth. 4 There are several problems with simply running a vulnerability scanner and assuming that a complete penetration test has been performed. The first is that the vulnerability scanners are only as good as the person running them. As will be discussed latter in this paper, there is more to performing a penetration test than just finding
2
Naturally, the testing performed in support of this paper will be performed by the author only. 3
4. Based on your analysis in (1) – (3) above, what is your overall conclusion regarding the
The penetration tools provided in this document allow us to review our network from a security standpoint. This paper focused predominantly on phase two of a penetration test, the exploitation phase; however, a successful penetration test typically starts with the reconnaissance phase. In this phase, the tester attempts to gain as much information about the target company and its network as possible. He or she will test the physical infrastructure (how do people gain access to the building?) and other organizational aspects of the company to find a weakness and a way to get in. Also during this portion of the test, the penetration tester will use tools such as NMAP, whois.com, and other resources to obtain information regarding the network
Our company is looking for security threats inside and outside their network. The best way to see what our network is vulnerable to is to use penetration testing (pen-testing) to find the leaks in and out of our network. Penetration testing is a network security approach that simulates an attack from an intruder trying to get unauthorized access to the infrastructure. With this type of testing the intent is to discover flaws in the security settings of the system before they can be exploited. Information Assurance Research Corporation (IARC) should conduct penetration testing on a regular basis, so we have the ability to locate weaknesses in the hardware and software, check the security controls currently established and determine if the
Companies should develop a control that requires that routine vulnerability assessment of their customer facing web sites, network infrastructure, and associated systems (such as database systems). Vulnerability assessment can help identify potential weaknesses to systems and also provide a sort of feedback to the organization’s IT department on their current operational policy and security posture. The cost of performing a routine vulnerability assessment is considerably less than that of an actual data breach.
Penetration testing is the attempt to identify security weaknesses within the IT infrastructure of an
After careful review of the current Service Level Agreement(SLA) “A Service Level Agreement for Provvision of Specified IT Services Between Finman Account Management, LLC, Datanal, Inc., and Minertek, Inc.” we have determined that standard Information Technology security measures have not been addressed fully. Following are the recommended changes highlighted in the specific sections that need to be addressed. These changes are being recommended to protect Finman’s data and intellectual property. Established standards such as Best
Despite the presence of network security devices such as firewalls and other security appliances, today's corporate networks are still vulnerable to both internal and external attacks by hackers intent on creating havoc. By proactively
CSEC 630 Lab2 -Intrusion Detection System and Protocol Analysis Lab (n.d.). University of Maryland University College. Retrieved from: https://learn.umuc.edu/d2l/common/viewFile.d2lfile/Database/NzkyMzkw/CSEC630_lab2_LEO.pdf?ou=33745
This report contains an overview of the testing process and issues that were found, details of the testing process, results found, the risks associated with the vulnerability and recommendations for rectifying the vulnerability. The results of the test can be of assistance to Ernst & Young when making decisions regarding information security.
What are the vulnerabilities in which a penetration test would look for? Most penetration tests would go through an information gathering state in which they look for as many different possible vulnerable targets, and they may also capture the network traffic and investigate that as well. One example of an attack could be infiltrating the file server and uploading a payload to that server. If an attacker can find their way to accessing the file server, depending on what is kept on it, they could also have access to secure files and any other sensitive information kept on it, possibly any of the configuration files to that file server holding hashes for user passwords. Attackers may also look for any vulnerable programs on network computers for more ways into the system. Depending on how much effort a hacker wants to go through there is an endless amount of areas that they can check for vulnerabilities. Anything from scanning port numbers to bypassing the firewall without being detected, networks can be well secured but not to a point of being 100% safe from any
After completing the penetration test, discovering the vulnerabilities and exploits in a company’s network and systems, a report must be compiled to present to the board members and management so they can understand what exactly you did as a penetration tester. Writing the penetration report is overlooked by many beginner and unethical penetration testers because the job has been done but now the results and findings need to be communicated back to the people that hired you for the job.
* Check existing security scan reports, from WireShark and NetWitness Investigator, and see if we can identify data leakage, and setup new policies and procedures for monitoring web servers and applications.
The use of Wireshark and Network Mapper (Nmap) vulnerability assessment tools will identify potential flaws in the Microsoft and Linux operating systems. In order for an attacker to breach into the computer system; the attacker needs to either be using the Wireshark or Nmap tool. First, a machine needs to selected by using a variety of techniques like port scanning and so forth. Once the targeted system has been identified, the tool is initated and the attacker can sweep through the entire network for weaknesses and open network ports.
The internet is a medium that is becoming progressively important as it makes information available in a quick and easy manner. It has transformed communications and acts as a global network that allows people to communicate and interact without being limited by time, boarders and distance. However, the infrastructure is vulnerable to hackers who use the system to commit cyber crime. To accomplish this, they make use of innovative stealth techniques for their malicious purposes in the internet.