What this book covers

Chapter 1, Goal-Based Penetration Testing with Kali Linux, introduces a functional outline based on the penetration testing methodology that will be used throughout the book. It ensures that a coherent and comprehensive approach to penetration testing will be followed.

Chapter 2, Open Source Intelligence and Passive Reconnaissance, provides a background on how to gather information about a target using publicly available sources and tools that can simplify reconnaissance and information management.

Chapter 3, Active Reconnaissance of External and Internal Networks, introduces the reader to stealthy approaches that can be used to gain information about a target, especially information that identifies vulnerabilities that could be exploited.

Chapter 4, Vulnerability Assessment, teaches you the semi-automated process of scanning a network and its devices to locate systems that are vulnerable to attack and compromise, and the process of taking all reconnaissance and vulnerability scan information, assessing it, and creating a map to guide the penetration testing process.

Chapter 5, Physical Security and Social Engineering, demonstrates why being able to physically access a system or interact with the people who manage it provides the most successful route to exploitation.

Chapter 6, Wireless Attacks, provides a brief explanation of wireless technologies, and focuses on common techniques used to compromise these networks by bypassing security.

Chapter 7, Reconnaissance and Exploitation of Web-Based Applications, provides a brief overview of one of the most complex delivery phases to secure web-based applications that are exposed to the public internet.

Chapter 8, Attacking Remote Access, introduces the most common remote access technologies from a security perspective, demonstrates where the exploitable weaknesses are, and explains how to validate the security of the systems during a penetration test.

Chapter 9, Client-Side Exploitation, focuses on attacks against applications on end users' systems, which are often not protected to the same degree as the organization's primary network.

Chapter 10, Bypassing Security Controls, demonstrates the most common security controls in place, identifies a systematic process for overcoming these controls, and demonstrates this using tools from the Kali toolset.

Chapter 11, Exploitation, demonstrates the methodologies that can be used to find and execute exploits that allow a system to be compromised by an attacker.

Chapter 12, Action on the Objective, focuses on immediate post-exploit activities and horizontal escalation—the process of using an exploited system as a starting point to "jump off" to other systems on the network.

Chapter 13, Privilege Escalation, demonstrates how a penetration tester can own all aspects of a system's operations; more importantly, obtaining some access privileges will allow the tester to control all of the systems across a network.

Chapter 14, Command and Control, focuses on what a modern attacker could do to enable data to be exfiltrated to the attacker's location and hide the evidence of the attack.