... Conducting a Penetration Test on an Organization This document is decided to give readers an outlook on how a penetration test can be successfully done on an organization. A methodology has been drawn out in this document to allow readers to be acquainted with the process that penetration testers go through to conduct a penetration test. Copyright SANS Institute Author Retains Full Rights AD Conducting a Penetration Test on an Organization TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Abstract 2 Bibliography ut ho Conclusion rr Limitation of Penetration Testing eta ins The Process and Methodology Planning and Preparation Key fingerprint = AF19 FA27 2F94 998D FDB5 DE3D F8B5 06E4 A169 4E46 Information Gathering and Analysis Vulnerability Detection Penetration Attempt Analysis and Reporting Cleaning Up fu ll r igh ts. What is a Penetration Test? 2 3 3 4 6 7 9 9 10 10 11 12 14 Appendix A: Netcraft (www.netcraft.com) results on www.sans.org Key fingerprint = AF19 FA27 2F94 998D FDB5 DE3D F8B5 06E4 A169 4E46 Chan Tuck Wai (twchan001) © SA Full name: Chan Tuck Wai GIAC userID: twchan001 Course: Security Essentials Version: First (Original Submission) Conference Location: Malaysia NS In sti DETAILS tu te 20 Appendix B: Penetration Testing Tools 02 ,A Page 1 © SANS Institute 2002, As part of the Information Security Reading Room. Author retains full rights. Conducting a Penetration Test on...
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...Penertation Test? 4 1. Cleint Penetraion Test Request 5 1.2 Scope 5 1.3 Intrusive or Non-Intrusive 5 1.4 Compromise or Non Compromise 5 2. Goals and Objectives 6 3. Penertation testing Methodology 2.1 Penetration test plans 2.2 NIST penertation testing documentation 2.3 Web application penertation testing 2.4 E-commerece penertation testing 2.5 Network penetration testing 2.6 Common tools and applications for peneration testing 7 2.7 Black box testing, grey box testing, Black/grey box testing 2.8 Social engineering testing 7 3. Test Plan 15 3.1 Task 3.1 Reporting 3.1 Schedule 3.2 Limitation of Liability 3.3 End of Testing 3.1 Unanswered Questions 10 3.4 Signatures 8 3.1 Authorization Letter 8 4. Conclusion 11 5. Bibiography 11 Acronyms 22 Appendix A – Test Case Procedures 23 Abstract This document is a proposal with a series of activities undertaken to identify and exploit security vulnerabilities. It helps confirm the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the security measures that have been implemented. This proposal provides an understanding of penetration testing. It discusses the benefits, the strategies and the mythology of conducting penetration testing. The mythology of penetration testing includes three phases: test preparation, test and test analysis. Key Words: Security Testing, Vulnerability Assessment, Penetration Testing...
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...No matter how secure one believes a network to be the need to conduct vulnerability assessments is of the upmost importance if a company or organization has information that is confidential or vital in nature. The need to conduct penetration testing should be an ongoing task for organizations as new technologies emerge. Even with security measures in place hackers continue to find ways around the roadblocks which are put in place to secure our networks. Just this month alone the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s network was compromised as a hacker was able to penetrate the emails of one of the organization’s special agents (Brito, 2012). The FBI has some of the most sophisticated computer security measures in place known to man and if their systems can be hacked I assure you that no one is safe. In order to properly examine a computer network for vulnerabilities a company’s information systems manager needs to determine whether such testing can be completed in house or should be outsourced to a penetration testing contractor. It is my belief that penetration testing is best left to contractors whose sole function is in conducting these types of tests, as they are better equipped with the tools and knowledge needed to get an accurate overview of a business network. However, penetration testing should be completed periodically by a business internal IT staff as they can apply updates to prevent vulnerabilities throughout the year and can assist a third party vendor in...
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...GLBA encourages companies to implement safeguards around pre-texting and social engineering. Security awareness training and periodic reminders of awareness to pre-texting and social engineering is a best practice performed within the user domain. 3. How does GLBA impact information system security and the need for information systems security practitioners and professionals? The safeguards rule within GLBA requires financial institutions and insurance companies to develop security plan detailing how they will protect their customers nonpublic personal information. The safeguards rule impacts the security plan throughout the 7 domains of a typical IT infrastructure in regards to protecting nonpublic personal information. 4. If your organization is a financial institution or insurance company that is also publicly traded, what other compliance law must you comply with? The Sarbanes-Oxley act. Proper security controls and safeguards must be designed and implemented to protect the nonpublic...
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...attack the targeted systems, what can you do as an initial first step to collect as much information as possible about the targets prior to devising an attack and penetration test plan? Collect as much information as possible through analysis. You must have all the needed data you can acquire regarding the system, network and applications. This information will be used to generate an appropriate test plan. Using NMAP can provided you with a good network survey. NMAP can provide you information regarding what Operating Systems are running as well as the type of packets, filters and/or firewalls are installed. Review old test results and reports that have been kept with all issues that have plagued the network, this will show you any previous vulnerabilities and allow you to check if a fix was implemented. 3. What applications and tools can be used to perform this initial reconnaissance and probing step? NMAP is that will allow you to collect OS information as well as packets, filters and firewall information. Nslookup will allow you to map an IP to a specified domain. The Domain Name Server (DNS) will give you information on a specific domain that is used to communicate with the network Whois will allow you to profile the organization, this will provide you with the physical address of the organization, the contact information regarding the Admins to include address, phone number and email address. Whois will also give you information regarding the NIC handle and...
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...Using penetration testing to enhance your company's security Based on the fundamental principle that prevention is better than cure, penetration testing (pen-testing) is essentially an information assurance activity to determine if information is appropriately secured. Conducted by penetration testers, sometimes referred to as ‘white hats’ or ethical hackers, these tests use the same tools and techniques as the bad guys (‘black hat hackers’), but do so in a controlled manner with the express permission of the target organization. Vulnerability scans versus pen-testing A common area of confusion is the relationship between vulnerability scanning (automated) and pen-testing (expert-driven manual testing). Both involve a proactive and concerted attempt to identify vulnerabilities that could expose the organization to a potential malevolent attack. Vulnerability scanners are great at identifying ‘low-hanging’ vulnerabilities, such as common configuration mistakes or unpatched systems that offer an easy target for attackers. What they are unable to determine is the context or nature of the asset or data at risk. They are also less able than humans to identify unknown-unknowns (things not already on the risk register, or which haven't been theorized by the organization as potential security issues). Good pen-testing teams, however, do this very well. For instance, pen-testers can give countless examples of engagements where an environment was previously scanned only for vulnerabilities...
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...Countermeasures When most people hear the term “hacker” they think of an evil person committing crimes by hacking into their computers to steal, destroy and/or steal identities. This is so in some cases, but not all hackers are bad. Hackers are merely curious technically skilled individuals who gain unauthorized access to computers, networks of various companies, organizations and individuals. Good hackers are considered white hat hackers. They are the ones, who are hired to break into systems as a way of testing the vulnerabilities and security issues that may be present in the computer system. Consider this: company XYZ, a mid-sized corporation, is in the middle of satisfying their regulatory compliance needs. The manager of security at the company has been tasked by the CIO (Chief Information Officer) to report on the company’s current security posture. If the manager decided to outsource an ethical or white hat hacker in attempt to test their security measures. Over the course of this document various things the third party hacker would need from the company, things he or she would provide to the company and some predictions for the tests. In order to exploit the targeted systems the initial steps to gain as much information as possible about the targets. In this case, the manager is the contact in which questions may be posed. The hacker would have several questions, such as: how intrusive does the manager want the hacker to be? What is the physical makeup of the network? Does the manager...
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...however the same cannot to predicted and hence such families are ignored in our other relevant projections drawn in this report. As we are launching our service at an affordable price of INR _____( FILL THE AMT), our service could be labeled as “affordable” and eventually we can grab the customers matching our criteria. It won’t be difficult to attract the urban crowd as people are more educated in such areas so a heavy initial promotion shall do our job. For growth prospective, some future events like stem cell curing a deadly disease of our patient, shall not only attract more customers but also create a trust worthy brand image. As it’s a very sensitive industry, the organization shall ensure storage at the safest possible means and shall cater the customers with utmost diligence. Adopting a market penetration pricing strategy, the aim is very clear, initial years shall see red figures in the financial statements but the same shall be overshadowed by increased...
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...Institute Author Retains Full Rights This paper is from the SANS Penetration Testing site. Reposting is not permited without express written permission. Interested in learning more? Check out the list of upcoming events offering "Hacker Techniques, Exploits & Incident Handling (SEC504)" at https://pen-testing.sans.org/events/ Key fingerprint = AF19 FA27 2F94 998D FDB5 DE3D F8B5 06E4 A169 4E46 A Management Guide to Penetration Testing David A. Shinberg © SANS Institute 2003, © SA NS In sti tu As part of GIAC practical repository. te 20 03 ,A ut ho rr Version 2.1a eta Practical Assignment ins SANS Hacker Techniques, Exploits, and Incident Handling (GCIH) fu ll r igh ts. Author retains full rights. Key fingerprint = AF19 FA27 2F94 998D FDB5 DE3D F8B5 06E4 A169 4E46 Abstract Penetration tests are an excellent method for determining the strengths and weaknesses of a network consisting of computers and network devices. However, the process of performing a penetration test is complex, and without care can have disastrous effects on the systems being tested. This paper provides guidance, primarily focused around planning and management, on how to conduct a penetration test comprised of five phases – Preparation, Public Information, Planning, Execution and Analysis and Reporting. However, due to the technical and sometimes sensitive nature of penetration testing only a cursory overview how to compromise a system...
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...First of all, I want to say thanks to the Office of Personnel Management for hiring me to determine what threat vector compromised the network. My fist step in conducting this Penetration testing would be to search for information on this organization because I want to see what information is out there that a hacker might have benefited from. To complete this task I would use the site "Whois.net", the site "Netcraft" and some search engine skills.By searching the organization's domain name in the whois.net interface I can find running name servers and their respective IP addresses. Netcraft, on the other hand, would allow me to gain significant information about the organization such as the type of OS this corporations computer's run, the DNS admin domain name, name server, and IPv6 address...
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...| Vulnerability Assessment System Penetration and Analysis Testing | |Memo | Internal Penetration Testing Tool and Purchase | | | | With the recent attack/hack on agency's network town police department authorities came to a decision to conduct a complete assessment on network vulnerabilities. The main goal of this memo is to assess or evaluate the network penetration tools available in the market. Compare the tools. Cost to buy and implement these tools internally. Hire a professional service to evaluate these tools. In this memo we will cover the internal implementation at high level. In the market there are many penetration tools like a. Nmap - Worlds Best Port Scanner b. Nessus - Vulnerability Scanner c. Metasploit - Exploit framework For testing Vulnerabilities I picked the above three mentioned tools which are widely used in many organizations and would be perfect for this scenario. The penetration tools that could be used to conduct a vulnerability analysis are; Nmap and Nessus which provide a number of penetration testing techniques such as port scanning, Credentialed and uncredentialed scans, enumeration, patch...
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...2011 Ethical Hacking & Penetration Testing ACC 626: IT Research Paper Emily Chow 20241123 July 1, 2011 I. Introduction Due to the increasing vulnerability to hacking in today’s changing security environment, the protection of an organization’s information security system has become a business imperative . With the access to the Internet by anyone, anywhere and anytime, the Internet’s “ubiquitous presence and global accessibility” can become an organization’s weakness because its security controls can become more easily compromised by internal and external threats. Hence, the purpose of the research paper is to strengthen the awareness of ethical hacking in the Chartered Accountants (CA) profession, also known as penetration testing, by evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of the information security system. 2 1 II. What is Ethical Hacking/Penetration Testing? Ethical hacking and penetration testing is a preventative measure which consists of a chain of legitimate tools that identify and exploit a company’s security weaknesses . It uses the same or similar techniques of malicious hackers to attack key vulnerabilities in the company’s security system, which then can be mitigated and closed. In other words, penetration testing can be described as not “tapping the door” , but “breaking through the door” . These tests reveal how easy an organization’s security controls can be penetrated, and to obtain access to its confidential and sensitive information asset by hackers...
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...Metasploit Vulnerability Scanner Executive Proposal Paul Dubuque Table of Contents Page 3 Executive Summary Page 5 Background Information Page 6 Recommended Product Page 7 Product Capabilities Page 10 Cost and Training Page 11 References Page 13 Product Reviews Executive Summary To: Advanced Research Corporation Mr. J. Smith, CEO; Ms. S. Long, V.P. Mr. W Donaldson, CCO; Mr. A. Gramer, CCO & Mr. B. Schuler, CFO CC. Ms. K. Young, MR. G. Holdsoth From: P. Dubuque, IT Manager Advance Research Corporation (ARC) has grown rapidly during the last five years and has been very successful in developing new and innovative devices and medicines for the health care industry. ARC has expanded to two locations, New York, NY and Reston, VA which has led to an expanded computer network in support of business communications and research. ARC has been the victim of cyber-attacks on its network and web site, as well as false alegations of unethical practices. ARC’s network is growing, with over two thousand devices currently and reaching from VA to NY. ARC needs to ensure better security of communications, intellectual property (IP) and public image, all of which affect ARC’s reputation with the public and investors. ARC has previously limited information technology (IT) expenditures to desktop computers and network infrastructure hardware such as routers, firewalls and servers. It is imperative that ARC considers information security (IS) and begins to invest in products...
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...are the activities associated with the operations and maintenance phase of systems development. (8 Marks) e) Identify and discuss the types of maintenance. (8 Marks) f) Compare and contrast roles and responsibilities during development phase and integration and testing phases of systems development. (10 Marks) Lecturer: Nick Gachui. Date Due: August 2014. a) What are the tasks and activities involved in the development, integration and testing of information system? i. Development Code and Test Software Code each module according to established standards. Integrate Software Integrate the software units and software components and test in accordance with the integration plan. Ensure that each module satisfies the requirements of the software at the conclusion of the integration activity. Conduct Software Qualification Testing. Conducting qualification testing in accordance with the qualification requirements for the software item. Ensure that the implementation of each software requirement is tested for compliance. ii. Integration Conduct System Qualification Testing Ensures that the implementation of each system requirement is tested for compliance and that the system is...
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...security posture. All this information consolidated into a tailored, immediately usable action plan that will help you close the gap between recognized good practice and what you are actually doing. The assessment can also find bottlenecks within the network that slow data and cause unnecessary downtime. Reports are produce so that concerns or problems will easily identified. Our organization finalizes the assessment and makes recommendations for improvements on the network. Our assessment included five major attributes, which are infrastructure, performance, availability, management, and security. When the final assessment is finished, the collected data reviewed for problems that negatively affect the network. We test the network at multiple levels for enterprise deigns errors, application problems, and equipment and circuit errors. We do not take our work or are assessments lightly it will be our pleasure to find what make your network function correctly and more proficiently. This assessment will take time and patients. Our team will conduct it with speed and professionalism that organizations like Cyber-Core demands. The first step in our methodology Planning: Gather information needed for assessment...
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