OBJ-1.1: Pentesters should never disclose any information from previous penetration tests to anyone outside of the assessed organization since this could expose the vulnerability found. This non-disclosure is usually outlined in the original contract and scope of work. If the contractor wishes to provide a sample report, then the report should be created specifically for the contract and only include information from a sample/test network, not a previous customer’s assessment. This could also be in breach of the NDA between the pentester and the organization, as well.

OBJ-5.3: SQL injection is a code injection technique that is used to attack data-driven applications. SQL injections are conducted by inserting malicious SQL statements into an entry field for execution. For example, an attacker may try to dump the contents of the database by using this technique. A common SQL injection technique is to insert an always true statement, such as 1 == 1, or in this example, 7 == 7. In this case, the SQL injection is evidenced by the SQL statements being sent to the web application hosted by WordPress. XML Injection is an attack technique used to manipulate or compromise an XML application or service’s logic. The injection of unintended XML content and/or structures into an XML message can alter the application’s intended logic. Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks are a type of injection in which malicious scripts are injected into otherwise benign and trusted websites. XSS attacks occur when an attacker uses a web application to send malicious code, generally in a browser side script, to a different end-user. A directory traversal attack aims to access files and directories that are stored outside the webroot folder. By manipulating variables or URLs that reference files with “dot-dot-slash (../)” sequences and its variations or using absolute file paths, it may be possible to access arbitrary files and directories stored on the file system, including application source code or configuration and critical system files.

OBJ-5.1: Output encoding involves translating special characters into some different but equivalent form that is no longer dangerous in the target interpreter, for example, translating the < character into the < string when writing to an HTML page. Input validation is performed to ensure only properly formed data is entering the workflow in an information system, preventing malformed data from persisting in the database and triggering the malfunction of various downstream components. Improper error handling can introduce various security problems where detailed internal error messages such as stack traces, database dumps, and error codes are displayed to an attacker. The session management implementation defines the exchange mechanism that will be used between the user and the web application to share and continuously exchange the session ID.

OBJ-3.3: Based on the scenario provided, it appears that the laptop has become the victim of a zero-day attack. A zero-day attack is an attack that exploits a potentially serious software security weakness that the vendor or developer may be unaware of. This means that there will not be a signature available in the IDS or anti-virus definition file. Therefore, it cannot be combatted with traditional signature-based detection methods. PII (personally identifiable information) exfiltration is the unauthorized copying, transfer, or retrieval of PII data from a computer or server. A ping of death is a type of attack on a computer system that involves sending a malformed or otherwise malicious ping to a computer. A remote access Trojan (RAT) is a malware program that includes a back door for administrative control over the target computer. Based on the scenario’s information, we do not have any indications that a ping packet was sent, that PII has been exfiltrated, or that the attack now has remote control of the laptop. Since neither the IDS nor anti-virus alerted on the PDF, it is most likely a form of a zero-day attack.

OBJ-5.2: This is a form of Cross-Site Scripting (XSS). Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of computer security vulnerability typically found in web applications. XSS enables attackers to inject client-side scripts into web pages viewed by other users. Attackers may use a cross-site scripting vulnerability to bypass access controls such as the same-origin policy. Cross-site request forgery (CSRF or XSRF) is a malicious exploit of a website where unauthorized commands are transmitted from a user that the web application trusts. There are many ways in which a malicious website can transmit commands, such as specially-crafted image tags, hidden forms, and JavaScript XMLHttpRequests can all work without the user’s interaction or even knowledge. SQL injection is a code injection technique used to attack data-driven applications. Malicious SQL statements are inserted into an entry field for execution, such as dumping the database contents to the attacker. Command injection is an attack in which the goal is to execute arbitrary commands on the host operating system via a vulnerable application. Command injection attacks are possible when an application passes unsafe user-supplied data (forms, cookies, HTTP headers, etc.) to a system shell.

OBJ-8.1: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is a computing method that uses the cloud to provide any or all infrastructure needs. In a VPC environment, an organization may provision virtual servers in a cloud-hosted network. The service consumer is still responsible for maintaining the IP address space and routing internally to the cloud. Platform as a Service (PaaS) is a computing method that uses the cloud to provide any platform-type services. Software as a Service (SaaS) is a computing method that uses the cloud to provide users with application services. Function as a Service (FaaS) is a cloud service model that supports serverless software architecture by provisioning runtime containers to execute code in a particular programming language.

OBJ-5.3: SQL injections target the data stored in enterprise databases by exploiting flaws in client-facing applications. These vulnerabilities being exploited are most often found in web applications. The database server or operating system would normally be exploited by a remote code execution, a buffer overflow, or another type of server-side attack. The firewall would not be subject to an SQL injection.

OBJ-7.2: SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) networks work off an ICS (industry control system) and maintain sensors and control systems over large geographic areas. A building automation system (BAS) for offices and data centers (“smart buildings”) can include physical access control systems, but also heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), fire control, power and lighting, and elevators and escalators. Vehicular networks are called a controller area network (CAN). A CAN uses serial communication buses to connect electronic control units and other subsystems in cars and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). System-on-chip (SoC) is a design where all these processors, controllers, and devices are provided on a single processor die or chip.

OBJ-2.3: This Windows machine contains an unquoted service path vulnerability, as shown in the output. If a service is created with an executable path that contains spaces and is not enclosed within quotes, then an unquoted service path vulnerability exists. In Windows, if the service is not enclosed within quotes and is having spaces, it would handle the space as a break and pass the rest of the service path as an argument. If the service involved has SYSTEM privileges, an attacker could exploit this vulnerability and gain SYSTEM level access. This command finds the service name, executable path, the display name of the service, and auto starts in all the directories except C:\Windows\ (since by default there is no such service that has spaces and is unquoted in this folder). As shown in the output, the service called “VulnerableService” has an unquoted service path.

OBJ-4.5: Due to the requirements provided, you should install a NIPS on the gateway router’s internal interface and a firewall on the external interface of the gateway router. The firewall on the external interface will allow the bulk of the malicious inbound traffic to be filtered before reaching the network. Then, the NIPS can be used to inspect the traffic entering the network and provide protection for the network using signature-based or behavior-based analysis. A NIPS is less powerful than a firewall and could easily “fail open” if it is overcome with traffic by being placed on the external interface. The NIPS installed on the internal interface would also allow various content types to be quickly blocked using custom signatures developed by the security team. We wouldn’t want to place the NIPS on the external interface in the correct choice for the same reasons. We also wouldn’t choose to install a NIPS on both the internal and external connections. IP filtering on both interfaces of the router will not provide the ability to monitor the traffic or to block traffic based on content type. Finally, we would not want to rely on a NIDS on the external interface alone since it can only monitor and not provide the content blocking capabilities needed.

OBJ-4.1: ARP poisoning reroutes data and allows an attacker to intercept packets of data intended for another recipient. ARP attacks can be sent from any host on the local area network, and the goal is to associate the host so that any traffic meant for something else will instead go directly to the attacker’s PC.

OBJ-1.1: Metrics are a method of measuring something over time. If you wish to show the effect of security improvements over time, creating metrics would be a good option. For example, you may wish to look at the number of unpatched and known vulnerabilities. As this number decreases, your network would be considered to have improved security. Reports and testing tools alone cannot show progress. You must have measurable results using metrics.

OBJ-8.1: If there are legal or regulatory requirements that require the company to host their security audit data on-premises, then moving to the cloud will not be possible without violating applicable laws. For example, some companies must host their data within their national borders, even if migrating to the cloud. The other options presented are all low risk and can be overcome with proper planning and mitigations. Most cloud providers have degrees of redundancy far above what any individual on-premises provider will be able to generate, making the concern over backups a minimal risk. If the SIEM is moved to a cloud-based server, it could still be operated and controlled in the same manner as the previous on-premise solution using a virtualized cloud-based server. While a VM or hypervisor escape is possible, they are rare and can be mitigated with additional controls.

OBJ-5.3: This code takes the input of “id” directly from a user or other program without conducting any input validation. This could be exploited and used as an attack vector for an SQL injection. If a malicious user can alter the ID source, it might get replaced with something like’ or ‘1’ =’1. This will cause the SQL statement to become: “SELECT * FROM CUSTOMER WHERE CUST_ID=” or ‘1’=’1′”. Because ‘1’ always equals ‘1’, the where clause will always return ‘true,’ meaning that EVERY record in the database could now become available to the attacker. When creating SQL statements, there are reasons for and against the use of the * operator. Its presence alone does not necessarily indicate a weakness. With only one line of code being reviewed, you cannot make any statement about whether it is vulnerable to a buffer overflow attack. You do not see the declaration values for the initialization of the id variable. This code is not using parameterized queries, but if it did, then it would eliminate this vulnerability. A parameterized query is a type of output encoding that relies on prepared statements to reduce the risk of an SQL injection.

OBJ-1.1: An acceptable use policy (AUP) governs employees’ use of company equipment and Internet services. Enforcing an acceptable use policy is important to protect the organization from the security and legal implications of employees (or customers) misusing its equipment. Typically, the policy will forbid the use of equipment to defraud, defame, or obtain illegal material. It is also likely to prohibit unauthorized hardware or software installation and to forbid actual or attempted intrusion (snooping) explicitly. An organization’s acceptable use policy may forbid the use of Internet tools outside of work-related duties or restrict such use to break times.

OBJ-6.1: Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) fixes most of the security problems with WEP. WPA still uses the RC4 cipher but adds a mechanism called Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) to fix the issues with key generation.

OBJ-2.1: This would be best classified as a low technical impact. Since WHOIS data about the organization’s domain name is publicly available, it is considered a low impact. This is further mitigated by the fact that your company gets to decide what information is actually published in the WHOIS data. Since only publicly available information is being queried and exposed, this can be considered a low impact.

OBJ-3.2: John the Ripper is a free, open-source password cracking software tool. It tests the strength of passwords during a technical assessment. John the Ripper supports both dictionary and brute force attacks.

OBJ-2.1: The best option is MAC address reporting from a source device like a router or a switch. If the company uses a management system or inventory process to capture these addresses, then a report from one of these devices will show what is connected to the network even when they are not currently in the inventory. This information could then be used to track down rogue devices based on the physical port connected to a network device.

OBJ-6.1: Evil Twin access points are the most common way to perform a man-in-the-middle attack on a wireless network. An evil twin is a copy of a legitimate access point, not necessarily giving it access to a specific network or even the internet.

OBJ-9.1: The first thing that must be done after acquiring a forensic disk image is to create a hash digest of the source drive and destination image file to ensure they match. A critical step in the presentation of evidence will be to prove that analysis has been performed on an identical image to the data present on the physical media and that neither data set has been tampered with. The standard means of proving this is to create a cryptographic hash or fingerprint of the disk contents and any derivative images made from it. When comparing hash values, you need to use the same algorithm used to create the reference value. While encrypting the image files is a good security practice to maintain the data’s confidentiality, it does not provide data integrity like a hash digest does. Once imaged, the source drive should not be altered or encrypted. Digitally signing the image file could serve the function of non-repudiation, but it is an uncommon practice and not required to be performed.

OBJ-3.2: Windows uses the sc query to display information about the running service. It is part of the Service Control command-line tool, known as sc. The sc config command will modify the value of a service’s entries in the registry and the Service Control Manager database. The sc query command will obtain and display information about the specified service, driver, type of service, or driver type. By entering just the sc query, the command will return the information on the active services only. By using the type=running option, only the information on the running service will be displayed. If the command sc query \\servername is used, then the remote server’s active services (\\servername) will be displayed.

OBJ-7.1: The function uses hard-coded credentials in the function, which is an insecure practice that can lead to compromise. The password for the application is shown in the source code as mR7HCS14@31&#. Even if this was obfuscated using encoding or encryption, it is a terrible security practice to include hard-coded credentials in the application since an attacker can reverse-engineer them. In this case, it could be used to rob the bank or its customers! There is no evidence of a SQL injection or buffer overflow attack vulnerability based on the code being shown. In fact, this code doesn’t even show any SQL or ability to connect to an SQL database. We cannot see the variable initiation in this code, either, so we cannot determine if it is vulnerable to a buffer overflow attack. Finally, a parameterized query is a security feature, not a vulnerability, and this source code does not show any evidence of parameterized queries being used.

OBJ-3.1: NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) produced a useful patch and vulnerability management program framework in its Special Publication (NIST SP 800-40). It would be useful during the program’s establishment and provide a series of guidelines and best practices. SANS is a company specializing in cybersecurity and secure web application development training and sponsors the Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC). The SDLC is the software development lifecycle. It is a method for dividing programming projects into separate phases. The Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) is a community effort that provides free access to many secure programming resources. The resources provided include documentation on web app vulnerabilities and mitigation tactics, software tools used to identify and handle threats that target web applications, frameworks for secure development life cycle implementation, frameworks for penetration testing web apps, general secure coding best practices, guidelines for specific web-based languages, and more.

OBJ-8.1: Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas) is focused on moving your servers and computers into the cloud. If you purchase a server in the cloud and then install and manage the operating system and software, this is Iaas.

OBJ-4.2: Phishing relies on sending out a large volume of email to a broad set of recipients in the hopes of collecting the desired action or information. Spearphishing involves targeting specific individuals using well-crafted emails to gather information from a victim.

OBJ-4.1: VLAN hopping is the act of illegally moving from one VLAN to another. A VLAN (virtual LAN) is a logical grouping of switch ports extending across any number of switches on an Ethernet network. One of the most common VLAN hopping methods is to overflow the MAC table on a vulnerable switch. When this occurs, the switch defaults to operating as a hub and repeats all frames being received through all of its ports. This “fail open” method ensures the network can continue to operate, but it is a security risk that can be exploited by the penetration tester.

OBJ-4.2: A URL filter can be used to block a website based on its website address or universal resource locator (URL). This is not a containment technique but a blocking and filtering technique. Quarantine would be used against an infected machine, and it would not be effective against trying to block access to a given website across the entire organization. An application blacklist is used to prevent an application from running, so this cannot be used to block a single malicious or suspicious website or URL.

OBJ-4.5: A Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliance is one that enforces a variety of security-related measures, combining the work of a firewall, malware scanner, and intrusion detection/prevention. A UTM centralizes the threat management service, providing simpler configuration and reporting than isolated applications spread across several servers or devices.

OBJ-1.1: The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) applies to companies of any size that accept credit card payments. If your company intends to accept card payment and store, process, and transmit cardholder data, you need to securely host your data and follow PCI compliance requirements.

OBJ-4.2: An internal target type means that assets can be accessed from within the organization. This can either be physically or logically from within the network, and it best simulates an insider threat. This target type can also be used to simulate an external hacker who has gained credentials on the network, such as through the use of a spearphishing attack.

OBJ-5.1: Since Apache is being run on the scanned server, this indicates a web server. Therefore, a web application vulnerability scan would be the most likely to provide valuable information. A network vulnerability scan or port scan can provide valuable information against any network-enabled server. Since an Apache server doesn’t contain a database by default, running a database vulnerability scan is not likely to provide any valuable information to the analyst.

OBJ-3.1: For the best results, the scans should be scheduled during periods of low activity. This will help to reduce the negative impact of scanning on business operations. The other three options all carry a higher risk of causing disruptions to the network or its business operations.

OBJ-3.3: An advanced persistent threat (APT) is a stealthy computer network threat actor, typically a nation-state or state-sponsored group, which gains unauthorized access to a computer network and remains undetected for an extended period. APTs usually send encrypted traffic so that they are harder to detect through network traffic analysis or network forensics. This means that you need to focus on the endpoints to detect an APT. Unfortunately, APTs are very sophisticated, so endpoint behavioral analysis is unlikely to detect them easily, so Sarah will need to conduct endpoint forensics as her most likely method to detect an APT and their associated infections on her systems.

OBJ-2.2: The simplest way to scan multiple subnets adjacent to each other is to use the -Pn tells the command to conduct a host-only scan of every IP in this target space without using ping. Using the dash (-) in the IP address means to scan “this network through this network.” So, 10.0.0-3.0 will scan every IP from 10.0.0.0 through 10.0.3.255.

OBJ-3.3: This scenario is describing a ransomware attack. Your personal files are being held hostage and will not be released unless you pay a ransom (in this case, 1 BTC). You should restore your machine from a known good backup and restore your personal files from the backup, as well. You should not pay the ransom since the attackers usually still will not unlock your files.

OBJ-1.1: The internet marketing company initially tried to transfer the risk (buy insurance) but then decided to accept the risk. To avoid the risk, the company would have changed how it did business or would prevent European customers from signing up on their mailing list using geolocation blocks.

OBJ-5.3: Based on the log entries, it appears the attack was successful in conducting a SQL injection. Notice the escape character (‘) used in the log. A connection to the MySQL database is being used in the script, which could be exploited since no input validation is being performed. Command injection is an attack in which the goal is to execute arbitrary commands on the host operating system via a vulnerable application. SQL injection is a specific type of command injection. LDAP injection is a code injection technique used to exploit web applications that could reveal sensitive user information or modify information represented in the LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) data stores. Directory traversal or Path Traversal is an HTTP attack that allows attackers to access restricted directories and execute commands outside of the web server’s root directory.

OBJ-8.1: Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is a virtualization implementation that separates the personal computing environment from a user’s physical computer. Virtual private cloud (VPC) is a private network segment made available to a single cloud consumer on a public cloud. A virtual private network (VPN) is a secure tunnel created between two endpoints connected via an insecure network, typically the internet. User and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) is a system that can provide an automated identification of suspicious activity by user accounts and computer hosts.

OBJ-6.1: Most wireless networks utilize end-to-end encryption, whereas wired networks do not. Physical accessibility is another major difference between wireless and wired networks since wireless networks can be accessed from a distance using powerful antennas. Authentication, MAC filtering, and network access control (NAC) can be implemented equally on wired and wireless networks. Port security is only applicable to wired networks.

OBJ-8.1: A reverse proxy is positioned at the cloud network edge and directs traffic to cloud services if the contents of that traffic comply with the policy. This does not require the configuration of the users’ devices. This approach is only possible if the cloud application has proxy support. You can deploy a reverse proxy and configure it to listen for client requests from a public network, like the internet. The proxy then creates the appropriate request to the internal server on the corporate network and passes the server’s response back to the external client. They are not generally intended to obfuscate the source of communication, nor are they necessarily specific to the cloud. A cloud access security broker (CASB) can be used to prevent unauthorized use of cloud services from the local network.

OBJ-7.1: When targeting mobile devices, you must first determine if the company uses iPhones or Android-based devices. If they are using an iPhone, it becomes much more difficult to attack since iPhone users can only install trusted apps from the App Store. If the user has jailbroken their phone, they can sideload apps and other malware. After identifying a jailbroken device, you can use social engineering to trick the user into installing your malicious code and then take control of their device.

OBJ-5.2: Integer overflows and other integer manipulation vulnerabilities frequently result in buffer overflows. An integer overflow occurs when an arithmetic operation results in a large number to be stored in the space allocated for it. Integers are stored in 32 bits on the x86 architecture; therefore, if an integer operation results in a number greater than 0xffffffff, an integer overflow occurs, as was the case in this example. SQL injection is an attack that injects a database query into the input data directed at a server by accessing the application’s client-side. Password spraying is a type of brute force attack in which multiple user accounts are tested with a dictionary of common passwords. Impersonation is the act of pretending to be another person or system for fraud.

OBJ-2.3: The correct port for NTP is 123. Port 69 is used for TFTP. Port 143 is used for IMAP. Port 636 is used for LDAPS.

OBJ-2.3: If Snort is operating as an IDS, it will not block the connection or drop the packet. Instead, Snort will evaluate the entire packet and check all the alert rules, logging any matches it finds, and then allow it to continue onward to its destination.

OBJ-7.2: Operational technology (OT) is the application of digital technology for detecting or causing changes in physical devices through monitoring and/or control. OT differs from IT in that it uses digitized data as an internal means to a physical goal, rather than to make information available to users. OT refers to physical devices (for instance, valves and pumps in machinery) that use digitized data to take physical action. OT devices can be as small as the engine control module (ECM) of a car or as large as the distributed control network of a national electricity grid. The collective term ‘industrial control systems’ (ICSs) refers to OT systems such as supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, distributed control systems (DCSs), remote terminal units (RTUs), and programmable logic controllers (PLCs), along with dedicated networks and organization units. The Internet of Things (IoT) supports OT devices, allowing them to connect both to each other and to information systems.

OBJ-6.1: Frequency jamming is one of the many exploits used to compromise a wireless environment. It works by denying service to authorized users as legitimate traffic is jammed by the overwhelming frequencies of illegitimate traffic. There is no indication that the malicious user is creating a rogue AP (which is a form of spoofing) or performing a MITM attack by having users connect through their laptop or device. Also, there is no mention of certain websites or devices being blocked logically. Therefore there is no blacklisting of IP addresses performed.

OBJ-9.1: SHA-2 creates a 256-bit fixed output. SHA-1 creates a 160-bit fixed output. NTLM creates a 128-bit fixed output. MD-5 creates a 128-bit fixed output.

OBJ-2.1: Shodan (shodan.io) is a search engine that identifies Internet-connected devices of all types. The engine uses banner grabbing to identify the type of device, firmware/OS/app type, and version, plus vendor and ID information. This involves no direct interaction with the company’s public-facing internet assets since this might give rise to detection. This is also the first place an adversary might use to conduct reconnaissance on your company’s network. OpenVas, SET, and Aircrak-NG are not considered OSINT tools. OpenVas is a vulnerability scanner. SET is a social engineering tool. Aircrack-NG is a wireless hacking tool.

There are two types of sniffing: Passive Sniffing and Active Sniffing.