WTF is Penetration Testing? An Overview of Who, What, Where, When, and Why

Scott Sutherland

Ryan Wakeham

• Scott Sutherland

Principle Security Consultant

NetSPI

• Ryan Wakeham

Director of Consulting

NetSPI

Who are we?

Presentation Overview

• What is a “pen test”?

• Why do companies “pen test”?

• Who does “pen testing”?

• What skills are required? ‒ Non Technical Skillset

‒ Basic Technical Skillset

‒ Offensive and Defensive Knowledge

• What are some Common Tools?

• Pen Testing as a Career

• Attack Demo: SQL Inject World

• Questions

What is Penetration Testing?

Our Definition:

“The process of evaluating systems, applications, and protocols with the intent of identifying vulnerabilities from the perspective of an unprivileged or anonymous user to determine the real world impact…”

“…legally and under contract”

Why do Companies Pen Test?

• Compliance Requirements

• Validate Existing Controls

• Identify Unknown Security Gaps

• Prioritize Existing Security Initiatives

• Prevent Data Breaches

• Test IDS / IPS / IRP

What are the Technical Objectives?

• Client specific objectives first

• Identify and verify all entry points

• Identify critical escalation points

• Gain unauthorized access to:

‒ Application functionality

‒ Critical systems

‒ Sensitive data

Assessment VS. Penetration

• Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing Answer:

‒ What are my system layer vulnerabilities?

‒ Where are my system layer vulnerabilities?

‒ How wide spread are my system layer vulnerabilities?

‒ Can I identify attacks?

‒ How do I fix my vulnerabilities?

Assessment VS. Penetration

• Penetration Testing Answers: ‒ What are my high impact network layer issues? ‒ What are my high impact application layer

issues? ‒ Can an attacker gain unauthorized access to:

• critical infrastructure that provides privileged access or cause service disruptions

• critical application functionality that the business depends on

• sensitive data that the business would be required to report on if a breach occurs

‒ Can an attacker bypass our IPS / WAF? ‒ Can an attacker pivot from environment A to

environment B?

Common Penetration Test Approach

• Kickoff: Scope, cost, testing windows, risks etc

• Information Gathering

• Vulnerability Enumeration

• Penetration

• Escalation

• Evidence Gathering (Pilfering)

• Clean up

• Report Creation

• Report Delivery and Review

• Remediation

Who Conducts Pen Testing?

• Internal Employees

• Security Analyst

• Security Consultant

• Third Parties

• Audit Firms

• Security Consultants

Rules of Engagement

• Have fun, but…Hack Responsibly!

• Written permission

• Stay in scope

• No DoS

• Don’t change major state

• Restore state

• Clear communication

What Skills are Needed?

• Non Technical

• Basic Technical

• Offensive

• Defensive

• Common Tools

Non Technical Skillset

• Written and Verbal Communications • Emails/phone calls • Report development • Small and large group presentations

• Professionalism • Respecting others, setting, and meeting expectations

• Troubleshooting Mindset • Never give up, never surrender • Where there is a will, there is a way

• Ethics • Don’t do bad things • Pros (career) vs. Cons (jail) • Hack responsibly

Basic Technical Skillset

• Windows Desktop Administration

• Windows Domain Administration

• Linux and Unix Administration

• Network Infrastructure Administration

• Application Development

• Scripting (Ruby, Python, PHP, Bash, PS, Batch)

• Managed languages (.Net, Java, Davlik)

• Unmanaged languages (C, C++)

Offensive and Defensive Knowledge

• System enumeration and service fingerprinting

• Linux system exploitation and escalation

• Windows system exploitation and escalation

• Network system exploitation and escalation

• Protocol exploitation

• Web application exploitation (OWASP)

• Reverse engineering client-server applications + AV Evasion

• Social engineering techniques (onsite, phone, email)

Common Tools

There are hundreds of “hacker” tools.

Generally, you need to have enough knowledge to know what tool or tool(s) is right for the task at hand….

…and if one doesn’t exist, then create it.

Common Tools

That being said…

Common Tools

• Knowledge > Tools

• Understand the core technologies

• Understand the core offensive techniques

• Understand the core defensive techniques

• Network Penetration Testing

• BT, CAIN, YERSINIA, NCAT, NMAP, NESSUS, NEXPOSE, WCE, MIMIKATZ, AirCrack-ng, METASPLOIT… and NATIVE TOOLS!

• Application Penetration Testing

• BURP, ZAP, NIKTO, DIRBUSTER, SQLMAP, SQL Ninja, and BEEF…. and commercial tools

Pen Testing as a Career: Common Paths

• Internal Paths • Help Desk • IT Support • IT Admin • Security Analyst • Senior Security Analyst • Internal Consultant • CISO

• Security Consulting Paths • Internship • Consultant • Senior Consultant • Principle Consultant • Team Lead • Director

Security consultants often end up in

malware research or exploit

development, but some go corporate.

Internal employees often stay internal.

Pen Testing as a Career: How to Start

• Read and learn! – There is no “end”

• Tap into the community!

• Research and Development

• Contribute to open source projects

• Present research at conferences

• Training and Certifications

• Community: DC612, OWASP, Conferences, etc

• Professional ($): SANS, OffSec, CISSP, etc

• Volunteer

• Internships

BE SAFE and

HACK RESPONSIBLY

Questions

Questions, comments, curses?