Penetration Testing and Network Defense

Penetration Testing and Network Defense
By Andrew Whitaker, Daniel P. Newman
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Publisher: Cisco Press
Pub Date: November 04, 2005
ISBN: 1-58705-208-3
Pages: 624

Table of Contents  | Index

The practical guide to assessing network vulnerabilities and managing security risk.

• Assess your network's defensive strengths and eliminate vulnerabilities with proven internal testing methodologies

• Learn how to perform simulated attacks on live networks

• Detect network attacks using the Cisco Intrusion Detection Sensor and Security Agent

• A complete real-world case study shows a step-by-step process for conducting your own penetration tests

Security threats are on the rise, and companies must be prepared to face them. One way companies are assessing security risk and the vulnerability of their networks is by hiring security firms to attempt to penetrate their networks or by developing in-house penetration testing skills to continually monitor network vulnerabilities. Penetration testing is a growing field, yet there is no definite resource on how to perform a penetration test and the ethics of testing. Penetration Testing and Cisco Network Defense offers detailed steps on how to emulate an outside attacker to assess the security of a network. Unlike other books on hacking, this book is specifically geared toward penetration testing. Divided into two parts, this book provides a set of guidelines and methodologies for understanding and performing internal penetration tests. It also shows how an attack can be detected on a network. Part one covers understanding penetration testing, assessing risks, and creating a testing plan. Part two focuses on the particulars of testing, and each chapter includes three essential components: the steps to perform a simulated attack using popular commercial and open-source applications; how to detect the attack with Cisco Intrusion Detection Sensor and Security Agent; suggestions on how to harden a system against attacks.

Book Description

The practical guide to simulating, detecting, and responding to network attacks 

• Create step-by-step testing plans
• Learn to perform social engineering and host reconnaissance
• Evaluate session hijacking methods
• Exploit web server vulnerabilities
• Detect attempts to breach database security
• Use password crackers to obtain access information
• Circumvent Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) and firewall protections and disrupt the service of routers and switches
• Scan and penetrate wireless networks
• Understand the inner workings of Trojan Horses, viruses, and other backdoor applications
• Test UNIX, Microsoft, and Novell servers for vulnerabilities
• Learn the root cause of buffer overflows and how to prevent them
• Perform and prevent Denial of Service attacks

Penetration testing is a growing field but there has yet to be a definitive resource that instructs ethical hackers on how to perform a penetration test with the ethics and responsibilities of testing in mind. Penetration Testing and Network Defense offers detailed steps on how to emulate an outside attacker in order to assess the security of a network.

 

Unlike other books on hacking, this book is specifically geared towards penetration testing. It includes important information about liability issues and ethics as well as procedures and documentation. Using popular open-source and commercial applications, the book shows you how to perform a penetration test on an organization’s network, from creating a test plan to performing social engineering and host reconnaissance to performing simulated attacks on both wired and wireless networks.

 

Penetration Testing and Network Defense also goes a step further than other books on hacking, as it demonstrates how to detect an attack on a live network. By detailing the method of an attack and how to spot an attack on your network, this book better prepares you to guard against hackers. You will learn how to configure, record, and thwart these attacks and how to harden a system to protect it against future internal and external attacks.

 

Full of real-world examples and step-by-step procedures, this book is both an enjoyable read and full of practical advice that will help you assess network security and develop a plan for locking down sensitive data and company resources.

 

“This book goes to great lengths to explain the various testing approaches that are used today and gives excellent insight into how a responsible penetration testing specialist executes his trade.”

–Bruce Murphy, Vice President, World Wide Security Services, Cisco Systems®