NCIX Data Breach

NCIX Data Breach

One of the biggest news items around recently has been the NCIX Breach. I was notified of it through a colleague prior to the media finding out about it through the following blog –> (https://www.privacyfly.com/articles/ncix_breach/). The blog details events that took place where a person uncovered hard drives left by the now bankrupt NCIX computer retailer. The warehouse housing these drives, and left over computers that belonged to NCIX were being sold off by the warehouse landlord. The information based off privacyfly’s blog seems to point towards the landlord illegally selling the data on the drives to recuperate lost rent. The big question here is how NCIX, or the team taking care of their assets after bankruptcy could allow this information to be sold. And, this also goes to show how NCIX has very weak security procedues in place to safeguard their most vital data (customer and employee data). Read The Full Post

Passing The GWAPT Exam

Passing The GWAPT Exam

So, I finally went for it and attempted the GIAC GWAPT exam and passed it! I’ve been conducting some pen tests prior to taking the SANS SEC 542 course and the GWAPT exam. The course taught me many new things, and gave me a new perspective, and insight when it comes to web application pen testing. This blog post is to share my experience on how to best prepare for taking the GWAPT exam.

Should I take this exam or challenge the GWAPT ?

Many people will ask themselves this very same question. The best answer really depends on what your career goals are for your future. If you plan on being a pen tester, then this is a must at least if you are new or an intermediate to web pen testing. These days the Internet is filled with web applications, and now with more data and applications placed in the cloud. WebApp pen testing is a skill in demand and will be needed to test anything open to the public via the cloud.

Studying

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Automating NMAP Scans

Automating NMAP Scans

Why do I need automation ?

Security analysts just don’t have the time to always run manual tests. Let’s say I wanted to monitor my ports and services open on my external lab IP address. It is not feasible for me to run a scan at 3am every day for the rest of my life. Therefore, if I had a tool that could automatically run a scan, check to see if anything suspicious is found and can alert me if that is the case would be hugely beneficial. In my case, I have created a method to do this and it is a very simple and straight forward method that virtually any one can use!

How can I create a NMAP scanning server ?

Servers are pretty easy to put up whether it’s a Virtual Image that’s spun up on a bare box, desktop, or in the cloud. In my case a Linux Ubuntu Server was used. It has a firewall and is assigned an external public IP address. It then has the ability to scan my lab network public IP address to be able to identify any open ports/services. It’s a great way to gain some visibility into knowing if any new ports were opened that shouldn’t have been or were missed.

*WARNING* please be sure that the network you are scanning is your own, or that you have WRITTEN PERMISSION to scan the network you desire. Scanning networks where you have no written permission can lead to legal issues, so please be sure you have permission or ownership of a network before doing so.

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SANS 542 – Winning the CTF Event – Coinage

SANS 542 – Winning the CTF Event

I just finished taking the SANS 542 vLive class on Web Application Penetration testing. During the last week (week 6) of the course, we have a CTF (Capture The Flag) event, where you team up with other classmates to exploit systems in a special SANS virtualized environment.

In our event, it started off being a bit unfair where the team I was on had 1 other person with me. While, the team on the other end had 4 members, so it was a 4 vs. 2 battle for most of the CTF. SANS has a similar environment as to one you would see at SANS Netwars. There is an area to create a team name, see your team rank and scores, as well as questions that are asked to you.

In the event our team thepentestninjas won the event leading the other team by over 100 points. We compromised all of the servers on the network, and completed the Level 3 mark. We however, got the very last system with 1 minute to spare.

SANS now has started a new program where they give out special SANS coins to winners of these types of events.

What is a SANS Pentest Coin?

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Wappalyzer – Identify technology on websites

Wappalyzer – Identify technology on websites

During one of my SANS vLive courses I am currently taking part in. My instructor introduced us to a nifty tool called Wappalyzer. He said he does use it as “one” of his tools of arsenal for pentesting servers and websites. I decided to take a look for myself since it wasn’t part of our SANS course. And, when you have a SANS instructor discussing a tool they use… well you just can’t go wrong by checking it out for yourself.

Finding technologies on a website

One of the most important aspects of pen testing online is to conduct proper recon. You need information to be able to devise a plan to more forward with the pen test. Information gathering is key and Wappalyzer can definetly help with recon. I decided to use Stealthbay.com as an example to see what type of technologies would show up. (more…)