Adv Ethical Hacking

1. Introduction to Ethical Hacking

• Understanding the role of ethical hackers and their ethical responsibilities.

• The difference between ethical hacking and illegal hacking.

• Legal and ethical frameworks (e.g., Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, CFAA).

• Importance of obtaining written consent before conducting penetration testing.

2. Reconnaissance and Information Gathering

• Footprinting: Collecting publicly available information about a target (OSINT).

• Active vs. Passive Reconnaissance: Understanding when to use each technique.

• WHOIS lookups, DNS queries, and IP geolocation for information gathering.

• Using Google Dorks to find sensitive information.

• Tools: Recon-ng, Maltego, theHarvester.

3. Scanning and Enumeration

• Port Scanning: Discovering open ports on target systems with tools like Nmap.

• Service Enumeration: Identifying services running on open ports to find potential vulnerabilities.

• Vulnerability Scanning: Using tools like Nessus, OpenVAS, and Nikto to detect known vulnerabilities.

• SNMP Enumeration, LDAP Enumeration, SMB Enumeration.

4. Exploitation and Gaining Access

• Understanding common exploitation techniques: buffer overflow, SQL injection, command injection, etc.

• Using Metasploit to exploit vulnerabilities and gain access.

• Web Application Exploitation: Using sqlmap, Burp Suite, and other tools to find and exploit vulnerabilities (SQLi, XSS).

• Social Engineering Attacks: Phishing, pretexting, baiting, and tailgating to manipulate users into giving up credentials or access.

• Malware: Understanding the role of malware in exploitation and how to safely use it in testing scenarios.

5. Post-Exploitation

• Maintaining Access: Installing backdoors, rootkits, or Trojans to maintain access after initial exploitation.

• Privilege Escalation: Techniques to escalate privileges on compromised systems (local privilege escalation, kernel exploits).

• Pivoting: Moving from a compromised system to another system on the same network.

• Data Exfiltration: Methods to extract data from compromised systems (file transfer tools, encrypted tunnels).

• Cleanup: Removing traces of the attack to avoid detection by security tools.

6. Web Application Security

• OWASP Top 10: Understanding and exploiting the most common web application vulnerabilities.

  • SQL Injection (SQLi): Techniques for exploiting web apps that interact with databases.

  • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS): Injecting scripts into web pages to exploit users.

  • Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF): Exploiting the trust a web application has in a user's browser.

  • Command Injection: Exploiting web applications that improperly process user input to run system commands.

• Session Hijacking and Session Fixation: Attacking and stealing active web sessions.

• Tools: Burp Suite, OWASP ZAP, Nikto, Wapiti.

7. Wireless Network Security

• WEP, WPA, WPA2, and WPA3: Understanding vulnerabilities and cracking wireless passwords using tools like Aircrack-ng.

• Man-in-the-Middle Attacks (MITM): Using tools like Ettercap to intercept communication between wireless clients and access points.

• Rogue Access Points: Creating fake Wi-Fi hotspots to capture credentials (Evil Twin attacks).

• WPS Attacks: Cracking Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) using tools like Reaver.

• Tools: Aircrack-ng, Kismet, Wireshark, Reaver.

8. Social Engineering

• Phishing: Crafting convincing emails or websites to trick users into revealing sensitive information (credentials, bank info).

• Vishing (voice phishing): Using phone calls to obtain sensitive information from victims.

• Pretexting: Creating a fabricated scenario to steal information.

• Baiting: Leaving malware-laden USB drives for users to find and use.

• Tools: Social Engineering Toolkit (SET), Maltego, Phishing Frenzy.

9. Network Attacks

• Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS): Understanding and executing DoS/DDoS attacks to overwhelm and disable networks.

• Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attacks: Intercepting and manipulating communications between two parties.

• DNS Spoofing: Redirecting traffic by poisoning DNS cache.

• ARP Spoofing: Attacking the ARP cache to redirect traffic or intercept packets.

• Tools: Wireshark, Ettercap, Scapy, Metasploit.

10. Cryptography and Secure Communications

• Encryption: Understanding symmetric and asymmetric encryption methods.

• Cryptanalysis: Breaking or weakening cryptographic algorithms (e.g., AES, RSA).

• SSL/TLS Attacks: Exploiting weaknesses in secure communication protocols.

• Password Cracking: Cracking hashed passwords using tools like John the Ripper, Hashcat.

• Public Key Infrastructure (PKI): Understanding digital certificates, signatures, and key management.

11. Privilege Escalation

• Linux Privilege Escalation: Techniques for gaining root access on a Linux system, such as exploiting setuid binaries or weak file permissions.

• Windows Privilege Escalation: Exploiting weaknesses in Windows environments (insecure services, weak configurations, kernel exploits).

• Misconfigurations: Exploiting poorly configured systems or applications to elevate privileges.

• Tools: LinPEAS, WinPEAS, BeRoot, GTFOBins.

12. Cloud Security

• Securing cloud environments (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP).

• Exploiting misconfigurations in cloud platforms (e.g., open S3 buckets, insecure APIs).

• Cloud Penetration Testing: Finding and exploiting vulnerabilities in cloud infrastructure.

• Tools: CloudSploit, ScoutSuite, Prowler.

13. Mobile Application Security

• Android and iOS security testing.

• Reverse Engineering APK files or mobile apps to identify vulnerabilities.

• Mobile Malware: Analyzing malicious apps and understanding mobile OS security mechanisms.

• Tools: MobSF, Apktool, Frida, Burp Suite.

14. Legal and Ethical Aspects of Hacking

• Understanding the legal boundaries in ethical hacking (e.g., laws on unauthorized access).

• Engaging in responsible disclosure of vulnerabilities.

• Developing penetration testing contracts and rules of engagement (RoE).

• Ethical implications and best practices in hacking.