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WELCOME TO CIS 55

Hacker techniques, Exploits, and Incident Handling

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Introductions!

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Introductions ��

Vaibhav Bhandari

Director, Security @ Sentant, Lib13

Previous - Shape Security, Optum, Microsoft

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Class schedule

  • January 26 – Lecture 1
  • February 2 – Lecture 2
  • February 9 – Lecture 3
  • February 16 – Holiday (President’s Day)
  • February 23Lecture 4�March 1 Lecture 5
  • March 8 – Lecture 6

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Before we go further

Let’s make sure everyone understands the syllabus.

Discussion-based class, I don’t want to put you through 5 hours of inner monologue every week.

Please, participate!

Did everyone join discord? Merritt Cybersecurity Bang !Null server�(if you don’t have access, reach out to james_888 on Discord and ask to be added to the server and class CIS 55)

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Grading: quizzes and labs

5 Labs, and I drop the lowest score

5 Quizzes and I drop the lowest score

Labs are always due before the class

Quizzes take place between 1pm Friday and Saturday midnight after the class

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Labs

Labs will be a combination of essay questions and TryHackMe & Netlabs assignments.

Today, register at tryhackme.com. When registering, pick a username that is combination of your first and last name

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Criminal Mind

As an infosec professional, you need to be able to think like a malicious individual in order to defend your org against malicious individuals.

Black Hats

White Hats

Grey Hats

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CIA

Confidentiality: Ensuring that only those who are authorized have access to specific assets and that those who are unauthorized are actively prevented from obtaining access

Integrity: Ensuring that data have not been tampered with and, therefore, can be trusted. It is correct, authentic, and reliable

Availability: Ensuring that authorized users have timely, reliable access to resources when they are needed - networks, systems, and applications are up and running

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What is penetration testing?

Penetration Testing is answering a simple question: “What would a cybercriminal do to harm my organization’ computer systems, applications, and network?“. It is the practice of testing a computer system, network or web application to find vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit, simulating an attack against an organization’s IT assets.

Vulnerabilities could be due to multiple reasons, few basic ones being:

  • Flaws in the design of hardware and software
  • Usage of unsecured network
  • Poorly configured computer systems, networks & applications
  • Complex architecture of computer systems
  • Plausible human errors

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Phases of penetration testing

Penetration tester usually begins by gathering as much information about the target as possible.

Then he identifies the possible vulnerabilities in the system by scanning.

After which he launches an attack.

Post-attack he analyses each vulnerability and the risk involved.

Finally, a detailed report is submitted to higher authorities summarizing the results of the penetration test.

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Reconnaissance

The first phase is planning. Here, the attacker gathers as much information about the target as possible.

The data can be IP addresses, domain details, mail servers, network topology, etc.

In this phase, he also defines the scope and goals of a test, including the systems to be addressed and the testing methods to be used.

An expert penetration tester will spend most of the time in this phase, this will help with further phases of the attack.

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Scanning

Based on the data collected in the first step, the attacker will interact with the target with an aim to identify the vulnerabilities. This helps a penetration tester to launch attacks using vulnerabilities in the system. This phase includes the use of tools such as port scanners, ping tools, vulnerability scanners, and network mappers.

While testing web applications, the scanning part can be either dynamic or static.

  • In static scanning, the aim is to identify the vulnerable functions, libraries, and logic implementation
  • Dynamic analysis is the more practical way of scanning compared to static analysis where the tester will pass various inputs to the application and record the responses

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Actual Exploit

This is the crucial phase that has to be performed with due care.

This is the step where the actual damage is done.

Penetration Tester needs to have some special skills and techniques to launch an attack on the target system.

Using these techniques an attacker will try to get the data, compromise the system, launch dos attacks, etc. to check to what extent the computer system or application or a network can be compromised.

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Risk Analysis and Recommendations

After the penetration test is complete, the final goal is to collect the evidence of the exploited vulnerabilities.

This step mostly considers all the steps discussed above and an evaluation of the vulnerabilities present in the form of potential risks.

Sometimes, in this step pen-tester also provides some useful recommendations to implement in order to improve security levels.

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Report Generation

Now, this is the final and the most important step. In this step, the results of the penetration test are compiled into a detailed report. This report usually has the following details:

  • Recommendations made in the previous phase
  • Vulnerabilities that were discovered and the risk levels they posses
  • Overall summary of the penetration test
  • Suggestions for future security

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TYPES OF PEN TESTING

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Types of Penetration Testing

If the penetration test is conducted from outside the network, it is referred to as external penetration testing

Suppose, the attacker is present inside the network, simulation of this scenario is referred to as internal penetration testing

Targeted testing is usually performed by the organization’s IT team and the Penetration Testing team working together

In a blind penetration test, the penetration tester is provided with no prior information except the organization name

In a double-blind test, at max, only one or two people within the organization might be aware that a test is being conducted

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Tools used

Nessus — It is a network and web application vulnerability scanner; it can perform different types of scans and help a penetration tester identify vulnerabilities.

Metasploit — It is an exploitation framework that has been packed with various capabilities. A skilled attacker can generate payloads, shellcodes, gain access, and perform privilege escalation attacks using Metasploit.

Nmap or network mapper — A port scanner that scans systems and networks for vulnerabilities linked to open ports.

Wireshark — It is a tool for profiling network traffic and for analyzing network packets.

Apart from the above ones, there are others like John the Ripper, Burp Suite, Cain and Abel, and many more popular tools.

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Know thy enemy

Garden variety hackers

Hacktivists

Script kiddies

Ransomware groups

APTs

Insiders

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Zero-day Vulnerabilities

Recommended reading: “This is how they tell me the world ends” by Nicole Perlroth

No system is perfectly secure

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Common Attack Vectors�https://attack.mitre.org/

Social Engineering Attacks

Brute Force Attacks

Software vulnerability exploits

Device theft

Privileged access misuse

Denial of Service

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Modern Network Defense mechanisms�https://securityonionsolutions.com/

Intrusion Detection/Prevention

Network Malware Prevention

Proxies

Firewall

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Endpoint Defenses

Antivirus

Application whitelisting

Sandboxing

Data backup

Patch management

Vulnerability management

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Glimpse into the future

Examples of first cyberattacks that had physical world consequences

Stuxnet

NotPetya

Cyberspace – fifth domain of warfare

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Everything security

https://www.schneier.com/ �Bruce Schneier, computer security icon:�

“Cars, door locks, contact lenses, clothes, toasters, refrigerators, industrial robots, fish tanks, sex toys, light bulbs, toothbrushes, motorcycle helmets – these and other everyday objects are all on the menu for getting smart”

As everything turns into computer, computer security becomes “everything security”

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Discussion: What value can cyber analytics bring to an organization?�

Help prevent business disruption

Influence decision making

Prioritizing cybersecurity – align cyber to the mission

Understanding risk and risk management

Attribution

Safeguarding lives

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What makes a good infosec professional?

Security is a team sport

80% process & communication,

20% technology

Knowing current trends and events

Only the paranoid survive

What resources do you use for security news?

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My resources to stay updated

Schneier on Security

Krebs on Security

Crowdstrike blog

Dark Reading

Daniel Miessler blog

Troy Hunt

CSO Online

There are hundreds of them..

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Lab 1

  1. Discord sign-up�
  2. Register at tryhackme.com

In your lab doc, include the screenshots of each task, screenshot should include your username.

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The End