Hacking Methodology

Hacking Methodology

Before you start testing your systems, plan a basic methodology. Ethical hacking involves more than just penetrating and patching. Proven techniques can help guide you along the hacking highway and ensure that you end up at the right destination. Planning a methodology that supports your ethical hacking goals is what seprates the professionals from the amateurs.

Setting The Stage

In the past, ethical hacking was mostly a manual process. Now, tools can automate various tasks. These tools allow you to focus on performing the tests instead of on your testing methods. However, it's important to follow a general methodology and understand what's going on behind the scenes.

Ethical Hacking is similar to beta testing software. Think logically-like a programmer-dissecting and interacting with all the network components to see how they work. You gather information-often small pieces-and assemble the pieces of the puzzle. You start at point A with several goals in mind, hack (repeating many steps along the ways), and move closer until you discover security vulnerabilities at point B.

The process that Ethical Hacking is built around is basically the same as what a malicious hacker would use. The goals and how you achieve them are different. In addition, as an Ethical Hacker, you will eventually attempt to assess all information-security vulnerabilities and properly address them, rather than run a single exploit. Today's attacks can come from any angle against any system, not just from the perimeter of your network and the Internet. Test every possible entry point, including partner, vendor, and customer networks, as well as home users, wireless LANs, and modems.

When you start rolling with your Ethical Hacking, keep detailed logs of every test you perform, every system you test, and your result. This information can help you do the following:

• Track what worked in previous tests and why.
• Help prove that you didn't maliciously hack the systems.
• Correlate your testing with intrusion-detection systems and other log files if questions arise.

In addition to taking general notes, it's also helpful to take screen captured of your result whenever possible. These will come in handy later if you need to show proof of what occurred, as well as when you're generating your final report.

These steps don't include specific information on the low-tech Hacking methods that you will use for social engineering and assessing physical security, but the techniques are basically same.

Your main task is to simulate information-gathering and system compromises carried out by a hacker. This can be either a partial attack on one computer or a comprehensive attack against the entire organization. Generally, you're looking for what both inside and outside hackers see. You want to assess internal systems (processes and procedures that involve computers, networks, people, and physical infrastructures). Look for vulnerabilities; check how all your systems interconnect and how private systems and information are protected from untrusted elements.

If you're performing Ethical hacking for a customer, you may go the blind assessment route and start with just the company name and no other information that gives you a leg up, such as:

• IP addresses
• Host names
• Software versions
• Firewall rules
• Phone numbers
• Employee names

This blind-assessment approach allows you to start from ground zero and gives you a better sense of what information hackers can access publicly.

As an Ethical Hacker, you may not have to worry about covering your tracks or evading intrusion-detection systems, because everything you're doing is legitimate. But then again, one of your goals may be to test systems in a stealthy fashion. I discuss techniques that Hackers use to conceal their actions in later chapters and outline some countermeasures for them as well. I don't discuss covering your tracks in the overall Ethical Hacking methodology.

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