Performing Enumeration as Part of Penetration Testing Tasks Using Virtual Machines

Performing Enumeration as Part of Penetration Testing Tasks Using Virtual Machines

연구 분야: Strategies

학회: Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, Volume 40, Issue 2

Teaching offensive security (penetration testing/ethical hacking) is becoming a standard practice in computer science, cybersecurity, and information technology programs[2, 5]. Penetration testing/ethical hacking allows students to identify targets and existing vulnerabilities on the targets. They can exploit the identified vulnerabilities using current offensive tools and practices to gain access and create presences, thereby acquiring the needed cybersecurity knowledge and skills that will prepare graduates to be job ready. Through a hands-on approach, students develop offensive cybersecurity competencies, enabling them to later build layered defenses that harden systems to penetration. The enumeration process is part of the penetration testing active reconnaissance phase. The goal of enumeration is to discover as much information as possible about the target systems and networks, for use in developing an effective penetration testing plan. In enumeration, usernames, file shares, and other pieces of information about the systems, domains, networks, and their configurations are gathered. We will demonstrate several different enumeration tools (crackmapexec, rpcclient, enum4linux, and smbclient) with an attacking host and a couple of vulnerable hosts in a virtual environment. Using a virtual environment to enumerate hosts reduces the risk to institutional networks and systems. Attendees will exit the tutorial with an idea of how to perform enumeration and active reconnaissance using a working virtual environment (VMware or VirtualBox) and a Kali Linux attack host.