Lesson 1: Overview of Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing
Disclaimer
The information provided on this training is for educational purposes only. The author, O’Reilly, or any other entity is in noway responsible for any misuse of the information. Some of the tools and technologies that you will learn in this training class may be illegal depending on where you reside. Please check with your local laws.
Please practice and use all the tools that are shown in this training in a lab that is not connected to the Internet or any other network.
Prerequisites and Other Resources
Security Penetration Testing The Art of Hacking Series LiveLessons
The Art of Hacking Series (new courses coming soon!)
Quick Definitions Needed for the Training
What is Penetration Testing or Ethical Hacking?
- An ethical hacker is as a person who is hired and permitted by an organization to attack its systems for the purpose of identifying vulnerabilities, which an attacker might take advantage of.
- The sole difference between the terms “malicious hacking” and “ethical hacking” is the permission.
What is a White Hat Hacker?
- Security professionals or security researchers that perform ethical hacking.
- Such hackers are employed by an organization and are permitted to attack an organization to find vulnerabilities that an attacker might be able to exploit.
What is a Black Hat Hacker?
Sometimes also referred to as a cracker, threat actor, bad actor, or malicious attacker.
Uses his or her knowledge for negative purposes.
Of course, they are often referred to by the media as hackers.
What is a Gray Hat Hacker?
- Somewhere in between a white hat and a black hat hacker.
- For instance, a gray hat hacker would work as a white hat hacker for an organization and then disclose everything to them.
- But might leave a backdoor to access it later and might also sell the confidential information or carry other attacks for his or her benefit.
What is a Script Kiddie?
- From Google: "a person who uses existing computer scripts or code to hack into computers, lacking the expertise to write their own."
Elite (l33t, 1337) Hacker
- Has deep knowledge on how an exploit works.
- Such hacker is able to create exploits, but also modify codes that someone else wrote.
- In other words, someone with elite skills of hacking.
Hacktivist
- Hacktivists are defined as group of hackers that hack into computer systems for a cause or purpose.
- The purpose may be political gain, freedom of speech, human rights, and so on.
What is a Vulnerability?
- A vulnerability is an exploitable weakness in a system or its design.
- Vulnerabilities can be found in protocols, operating systems, applications, hardware, and system designs.
What is a threat?
- A threat is any potential danger to an asset.
- If a vulnerability exists but has not yet been exploited—or, more importantly, it is not yet publicly known— “the threat is latent and not yet realized.”
What is an Exploit?
- An exploit is software or a sequence of commands that takes advantage of a vulnerability in order to cause harm to a system or network.
- There are several methods of classifying exploits; however, the most common two categories are remote and local exploits.
What is an Exploit-Kit?
An exploit kit is a compilation of exploits that are often designed to be served from web servers.
Examples:
- Angler
- Mpack
- Fiesta
- Phoenix
- Blackhole
- Crimepack
- RIG
Cyber Security and Ethical Hacking Certifications
Penetration Testing / Ethical Hacking
- EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
- Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP)
- Offensive Security Wireless Professional
- Offensive Security Certified Expert
- Offensive Security Exploitation Expert
- Offensive Security Web Expert
- GIAC Penetration Testing Certification
Other Popular Cyber Security Certifications
- ISC2 - including CISSP, SSCP, CCSP, CAP, CSSLP, HCISPP, CISSP Concentrations
Cisco Security Certifications:
ISACA Certifications - including CISA, CISM, CGEIT, CRISC, and others.