Post-exploitation

Post-exploitation covers activities that can be performed once a target is successfully exploited.

The post-exploitation phase really showcases your skills as a penetration tester. When malicious hackers breach a system, they start to trawl the environment looking for high-value targets. They also start creating backdoors so that they can easily revisit the compromised system.

As a penetration tester, you would perform tasks as if you were an attacker. Once you have breached a system, it's time to look for high-value targets and valuable information, attempt to access escalated privileges, move laterally, and look at how you can pivot.