So, what am I usually looking for in this phase?

I barely use scanning tools against a target’s network at this phase since I can get almost all the necessary information to craft my attack strategy. I usually use this opportunity to do lots of passive intelligence gathering using Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) tools and platforms for External Penetration testing plan. This phase of the cyber kill chain is where you gather intelligence about your target, both passively and actively. External Penetration Testing Checklist ReconnaissanceĪmong other penetration testing techniques, I need not mention or iterate the importance of reconnaissance in every cyber-attack or network penetration testing alike. Of course, the goal was to identify attack vectors to compromise the organization from the internet. For the scope of the engagement, the organization provided us with their domain name and IP address ranges. The Missionīack in 2018, a large healthcare organization contracted us to conduct external penetration testing against its external network infrastructure. All it takes is just one set of user credentials and your entire network could fall to an adversary. We popularly term this approach the path of least resistance and one of these paths is login credentials. They mostly look for the easiest ways to get in. Thus, adversaries don’t look for the hardest ways to break-in.

The truth is, cyber-attacks are more about efficiency and not necessarily elegance. So, I usually take the time with my clients to shed some light on how modern-day attacks are usually carried out and how a small loophole as simple as one weak user credential can topple the entire network defense.

For most of them, they expect some Tom Cruise Mission Impossible-style of hacking, bypassing firewalls, etc., only to find out how effortless it was for me to compromise their networks.

Burpsuite crack