Penetration Testing Essentials

Your pen testing career begins here, with a solid foundation in essential skills and concepts

Penetration Testing Essentials provides a starting place for professionals and beginners looking to learn more about penetration testing for cybersecurity. Certification eligibility requires work experience—but before you get that experience, you need a basic understanding of the technical and behavioral ways attackers compromise security, and the tools and techniques you’ll use to discover the weak spots before others do. You’ll learn information gathering techniques, scanning and enumeration, how to target wireless networks, and much more as you build your pen tester skill set. You’ll learn how to break in, look around, get out, and cover your tracks, all without ever being noticed. Pen testers are tremendously important to data security, so they need to be sharp and well-versed in technique, but they also need to work smarter than the average hacker. This book set you on the right path, with expert instruction from a veteran IT security expert with multiple security certifications.

IT Security certifications have stringent requirements and demand a complex body of knowledge. This book lays the groundwork for any IT professional hoping to move into a cybersecurity career by developing a robust pen tester skill set.

• Learn the fundamentals of security and cryptography
• Master breaking, entering, and maintaining access to a system
• Escape and evade detection while covering your tracks
• Build your pen testing lab and the essential toolbox

Start developing the tools and mindset you need to become experienced in pen testing today.

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Penetration Testing
CHAPTER 2 Introduction to Operating Systems and Networking
CHAPTER 3 Introduction to Cryptography
CHAPTER 4 Outlining the Pen Testing Methodology
CHAPTER 5 Gathering Intelligence
CHAPTER 6 Scanning and Enumeration
CHAPTER 7 Conducting Vulnerability Scanning
CHAPTER 8 Cracking Passwords
CHAPTER 9 Retaining Access with Backdoors and Malware
CHAPTER 10 Reporting
CHAPTER 11 Working with Defensive and Detection Systems
CHAPTER 12 Covering Your Tracks and Evading Detection
CHAPTER 13 Detecting and Targeting Wireless
CHAPTER 14 Dealing with Mobile Device Security
CHAPTER 15 Performing Social Engineering
CHAPTER 16 Hardening a Host System
CHAPTER 17 Hardening Your Network
CHAPTER 18 Navigating the Path to Job Success
CHAPTER 19 Building a Test Lab for Penetration Testing