Penetration Tests - CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 - 5.5

Summary

This video script explains the importance of physical penetration testing in addition to digital methods. Physical security breaches, such as unauthorized access to buildings and devices, can compromise operating systems. The script highlights the roles of red and blue teams in penetration testing, the various environments (known, partially known, unknown) used in tests, and the difference between passive and active reconnaissance techniques. It emphasizes the need for a comprehensive approach to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities, ensuring robust security measures are in place.

Takeaways

• 🔒 Physical penetration testing is crucial for security as it can reveal vulnerabilities when an attacker has physical access to a device.
• 🏢 Servers are often kept in secure data centers to emphasize the importance of physical security.
• 🏛 In a physical penetration test, testers attempt to gain unauthorized access to a facility, exploring various entry points like doors, windows, and elevators.
• 💥 Penetration testing has offensive and defensive aspects, involving 'red teams' that attack systems and 'blue teams' that defend against these attacks.
• 🔄 The integration of red and blue teams provides continuous feedback, improving system security by identifying and patching vulnerabilities.
• 📝 Pen testers may have varying levels of information about the environment they are testing, ranging from full disclosure to a completely blind test.
• 🕵️‍♂️ Reconnaissance is a key step in penetration testing, where testers gather as much information as possible about the target environment before launching an attack.
• 🗺️ Post-reconnaissance, testers can create a network map detailing IP configurations and the layout of the infrastructure.
• 🔍 Passive reconnaissance involves gathering information from indirect sources like social media, corporate websites, and third-party companies.
• 🕵️‍♀️ Active reconnaissance is more direct and involves interacting with the network, which can be detected through logs on devices like firewalls.
• 🛠️ Techniques such as ping scans, port scans, DNS queries, and version scans are used during active reconnaissance to identify specific services and system details.

Q & A

What is physical penetration testing?

Physical penetration testing is a security assessment where testers attempt to gain unauthorized access to a facility or device in a physical manner, such as bypassing locks, doors, or windows, to evaluate the effectiveness of physical security measures.

Why is physical access to a device a security concern?

Physical access to a device is a security concern because it allows an attacker to modify the boot process, boot from other media, or alter or replace files associated with the operating system, thus circumventing digital security measures.

What is the importance of servers being locked inside a highly secure data center?

Servers being locked inside a highly secure data center is crucial for maintaining physical security, as it prevents unauthorized access and potential tampering with the server's hardware or software, which could compromise the entire system.

What does a company do during a physical penetration test?

During a physical penetration test, a company evaluates its physical security by allowing testers to attempt to gain access to the physical facility without authorization, using any means necessary, to identify vulnerabilities in the security infrastructure.

What are the two main teams involved in penetration testing?

The two main teams involved in penetration testing are the red team, which conducts the attacks and searches for vulnerabilities, and the blue team, which defends the systems and blocks attacks in real time.

How do the red and blue teams work together in penetration testing?

The red team identifies vulnerabilities and attacks systems, and when they find an opening, they pass that information to the blue team, which then works to patch the vulnerability and improve the system's defenses for future attacks.

What are the different types of information disclosure levels for a penetration tester?

The different types of information disclosure levels for a penetration tester are full disclosure, where all systems and information are known; partial disclosure, where some information is provided; and no disclosure, also known as a blind test, where the tester has no prior information about the environment.

What is the purpose of reconnaissance in penetration testing?

The purpose of reconnaissance in penetration testing is to gather as much information as possible about the target environment to understand security tools, server installations, and applications running on those servers, allowing the testers to identify key systems and focus their efforts.

What is the difference between passive and active reconnaissance in the context of penetration testing?

Passive reconnaissance involves gathering information from indirect sources without directly interacting with the target's network, such as social media or public forums. Active reconnaissance is more direct, involving querying devices on the network, which can leave traces in log files and may alert the target to the tester's presence.

What are some examples of passive reconnaissance methods?

Examples of passive reconnaissance methods include searching for information on social media, browsing corporate websites, reading online forums or Reddit posts, performing social engineering to extract information from employees, dumpster diving for discarded documents, and talking to third-party companies for insights into the target's infrastructure.

What are some examples of active reconnaissance techniques?

Examples of active reconnaissance techniques include ping scans, port scans, DNS queries to the corporate server, operating system scans, and version scans to identify specific services or software versions on a device.

Outlines

00:00

🔒 Importance of Physical Security in Penetration Testing

This paragraph discusses the significance of physical penetration testing in security assessments. It explains that having physical access to a device can easily bypass digital security measures, such as modifying the boot process or replacing files. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of physical security, like locking servers in secure data centers, and describes the process of a physical penetration test, which includes gaining unauthorized access to facilities, assessing the building's security, and attempting to exploit any vulnerabilities. It also introduces the concepts of 'red team' and 'blue team' in penetration testing, highlighting the offensive and defensive aspects, respectively, and the value of integrating both for continuous system feedback and improvement.

05:01

🕵️‍♂️ Reconnaissance Techniques in Penetration Testing

The second paragraph delves into the reconnaissance phase of penetration testing, which is critical for gathering information about the target environment. It outlines both passive and active reconnaissance methods. Passive reconnaissance involves collecting data from indirect sources without directly interacting with the target's network, such as social media, corporate websites, online forums, and even dumpster diving. Active reconnaissance, on the other hand, involves direct network interaction, such as ping scans, port scans, and DNS queries, which can leave traces in network logs. The paragraph also touches on the importance of understanding the target's infrastructure, including network maps and IP configurations, to identify key systems for focused attacks.

Keywords

💡Penetration Testing

Penetration testing, often abbreviated as pen testing, is the practice of simulating cyber attacks on a system to identify vulnerabilities that a malicious hacker could exploit. In the context of the video, it is highlighted that pen testing is not only digital but also includes physical security assessments. The video emphasizes the importance of considering both aspects to ensure comprehensive security.

💡Physical Security

Physical security refers to measures taken to protect physical assets from unauthorized access, theft, and damage. The video script underscores the significance of physical security, explaining how easy it is to bypass digital security if an attacker has physical access to a device, such as a server.

💡Boot Process

The boot process is the method by which a computer system initializes after being powered on. In the script, it is mentioned as a potential point of exploitation during physical penetration testing, where an attacker could modify the boot sequence to bypass security measures.

💡Data Center

A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as servers, storage systems, and network equipment. The video mentions that servers are often secured within highly protected data centers to emphasize the importance of physical security in protecting against unauthorized access.

💡Red Team

In the field of information security, a red team is a group of security professionals who simulate an attack on an organization's system to test its resilience. The video explains the role of the red team in offensive security, where they actively seek out and exploit vulnerabilities.

💡Blue Team

The blue team represents the defensive side of security testing, working to identify and mitigate attacks in real time. The video describes the blue team's role in countering the red team's efforts, highlighting the importance of a balanced approach to security testing.

💡Vulnerabilities

A vulnerability is a weakness in a system that can be exploited by a threat actor. The video discusses how penetration testers, both red and blue teams, look for and attempt to exploit vulnerabilities to assess and improve security.

💡Reconnaissance

Reconnaissance in the context of pen testing refers to the process of gathering information about the target environment before launching an attack. The script explains that this can be done both passively, through information gathering without direct interaction, and actively, by interacting with the system to collect data.

💡Passive Reconnaissance

Passive reconnaissance is a method of information gathering that does not involve direct interaction with the target's network. The video gives examples such as social media research, corporate website analysis, and dumpster diving as forms of passive reconnaissance used by pen testers.

💡Active Reconnaissance

Active reconnaissance involves direct interaction with the target's network to gather information. The video mentions techniques such as ping scans, port scans, and DNS queries as examples of active reconnaissance, noting that this method can leave traces in log files.

💡Blind Test

A blind test in penetration testing is when the tester is given no information about the target environment and must discover all details independently. The script refers to this as the most challenging type of test, as it simulates a real-world attack scenario where an attacker has no prior knowledge of the system.

Highlights

Physical penetration testing is an important security tool for protecting against attacks when an attacker has physical access to a device.

Physical security is crucial as it's easy to modify the boot process or operating system files when you have access to the device.

Servers are often kept in highly secure data centers to ensure physical security.

In a physical penetration test, testers attempt to gain unauthorized access to a facility through doors, windows, elevators, and other entry points.

Penetration testing has both offensive (red team) and defensive (blue team) aspects.

The red team attacks systems to find and exploit vulnerabilities, while the blue team identifies and blocks incoming attacks in real time.

Integrating the red and blue teams provides constant feedback to improve system security.

Pen testers may have varying levels of information about the environment, including full disclosure, partial knowledge, or completely unknown (blind test).

In a full disclosure test, pen testers are provided with all system information to be attacked.

A partially known environment provides some information to the pen tester, focusing their attacks on certain systems.

In an unknown environment, pen testers have no information and must discover everything on their own.

Reconnaissance is a key step in penetration testing to gather information about the target environment.

Passive reconnaissance involves gathering information from indirect sources without directly connecting to the target network.

Active reconnaissance involves directly querying devices on the target network, making the tester more visible.

Passive reconnaissance sources include social media, corporate websites, online forums, and third-party companies.

Active reconnaissance techniques include ping scans, port scans, DNS queries, and operating system fingerprinting.

Reconnaissance helps pen testers understand the target's security tools, server configurations, and applications.

After reconnaissance, pen testers can create a network map to identify key systems and focus their efforts.

Transcripts

We often think of penetration testing

as something that's done over the internet in a digital form.

But physical penetration testing can be an important security

tool.

That's because it's exceptionally easy

to circumvent the security of an operating system

if you have physical access to the device.

You can modify the boot process.

You can boot from other media that you might bring.

Or you can modify or replace the files associated

with that operating system.

This is why our servers tend to be locked inside

of a highly secure data center because physical security is

so important.

So if a company participates in a physical penetration test,

they're going to try to gain access

to your physical facility.

They'll try to enter the building without a key.

They'll try to see what type of access

might be available inside the building.

And they'll try every possible way to gain access.

They'll try the doors, the windows, elevators,

and anything relating to physical security

of your location.

We tend to think of penetration testing as an offensive action.

But there are many nuances to pen testing.

Obviously, there is an aspect to pen testing

that is on the offense.

This is a group of people that's called the red team,

and they attack systems, they look for vulnerabilities,

and they attempt to exploit those vulnerabilities.

But there's also a defensive side to pen testing.

This would be the blue team that is

able to identify the attacks coming in real time

and block any of these attacks from occurring.

The best combination would be to integrate these two teams

together to have a system that is constantly

providing feedback on itself.

You'll have the red team constantly attacking systems.

And when they identify an opening,

they pass that information to the blue team

to be able to patch it and better identify it next time.

The individuals performing the penetration tests

may have different types of information depending

on the test that's occurring.

And depending on what you know about the environment,

you may use different techniques during the penetration test

itself.

For example, an organization may provide the pen tester

with a known environment.

This is full disclosure of all of the systems

that we'll be attacked during this penetration test.

There may be times when only some of that information

is provided to the pen tester.

This would be a partially known environment,

which is a mix between the known environment

and the unknown environment.

This is often used when you want the pen

testers to be sure to attack certain systems

within your environment.

And of course, there is the unknown environment

where no information is provided to the pen tester

and they have to find all of the information on their own.

You'll often hear this referred to as a blind test.

Even when all of the information is provided to the pen tester,

there's still information that needs

to be gathered before making any type of attack.

The reconnaissance processes used by the pen tester

to gather as much information as possible about the environment.

This allows them to understand exactly what security tools

might be in place, what servers might be installed,

and what applications might be running on those servers.

This allows the pen testing team to identify the key systems

that may be in an infrastructure and focus

their efforts on gaining access to those individual devices.

Once they're done with the reconnaissance,

they can build out an entire network map,

IP address configuration, the list of all the networks

in the infrastructure, and understand

better how they're connected to any of their remote sites.

This reconnaissance process may not

start with connecting to the customer's network.

Instead, they may be using other sources to gather information

about what they might find.

We refer to this as passive reconnaissance

because we're gathering information

from sources that don't tie us directly back

to the customer's network.

A good example of these might be finding information

on social media about the customer's networks.

There might be details on a corporate website

where you can browse and learn more about the company.

There might be online forums or Reddit

posts that can gather information

about what's in that company's infrastructure.

You could also perform social engineering

to try to get information out of people

who may work in the company.

And of course, you might go dumpster diving

to find documents that may have been thrown out in the trash.

You could also talk to third-party companies that

do business with that organization

to learn what they might know about that customer's

infrastructure.

Active reconnaissance is a much more direct way

to gather information because you're going into the network

and querying devices that might be there.

With active reconnaissance, we can be easily seen

on this network because we're sending packets

across their network, and very often the evidence

that we were there is stored in log files that

may be on a firewall or some other device.

An example of active reconnaissance

might be a ping scan or a port scan of a device,

perhaps a DNS query to the corporate DNS server,

or maybe someone performing operating system

scans or operating system fingerprinting.

Any time you're looking into individual services on a device

or you're performing some type of version scan,

you are certainly performing active reconnaissance.