The Basics of Hacking and Penetration Testing

1. What is Penetration Testing?
2. Reconnaissance
3. Scanning
4. Exploitation
5. Web Based Exploitation
6. Maintaining Access with Backdoors and Rootkits
7. Trapping Up the Penetration Test

Dr. Patrick Engebretson obtained his Doctor of Science degree with a specialization in Information Security from Dakota State University. He currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Information Assurance and also works as a Senior Penetration Tester for security firm in the Midwest. His research interests include penetration testing, hacking, intrusion detection, exploitation, honey pots, and malware. In the past several years he has published many peer reviewed journal and conference papers in these areas. Dr. Engebretson has been invited by the Department of Homeland Security to share his research at the Software Assurance Forum in Washington, DC and has also spoken at Black Hat in Las Vegas. He regularly attends advanced exploitation and penetration testing trainings from industry recognized professionals and holds several certifications. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in penetration testing, wireless security, and intrusion detection, and advanced exploitation.

"Although this book is ideal for beginners, most security professionals will have been involved with penetration testing during some point in their career. This book is thus an excellent refresher for those of us who fondly recall Nmap, Nessus and Netcat as being the tools of choice for both whitehat and blackhat hackers, but have long-since forgotten the full command-line syntax and would benefit from a refresh. Patrick Engebretson gets the reader involved in the art of hacking from page one and makes this book a fascinating and productive read."--Best Hacking and Pen Testing Books in InfoSecReviews Book Awards "Have you heard of penetration testing but have no idea what it entails? This is the perfect book to get you started, easy to read, does not assume prior knowledge, and is up-to-date. I strongly recommend Pat's latest work."--Jared DeMott, Principle Security Researcher, Crucial Security, Inc. "If you are searching for a book to get you started with penetration testing, 'The Basics of Hacking and Penetration Testing' is the right one. It assumes little and gives a lot, and doesn't require huge amounts of technical knowledge in order to be read or understood. As complex the subject may sound to novices, the author does a great job explaining it. He eschews techno-babble and when he repeatedly returns to some issues, it's because he has more to say about them, not because he can't think about what to right next."--Help Net Security "This book offers a broad overview of basic concepts of hacking and penetration testing for readers with no previous background. It outlines a four-phase model of conducting a penetration test, or an 'ethical hack,' and shows how to use such hacking tools as Backtrack Linux, Hacker Defender, and MetGooFil. A sequential example throughout the book demonstrates how the tools and phases work together. The book includes chapter introductions and summaries, b&w screenshots, examples and exercises, and recommended resources."--SciTech

"...this is meant to be a practical book, and it positively encourages you to download, fire up and use the tools mentioned. The first chapter even tells you how to set up your own 'hacking lab'. So whatever your interest in hacking, you'll get the most out of the book if you follow along." --Network Security,Aug 1 2013

"For people looking to become pen-testers, this is an excellent first step. For anyone simply curious about what pen-testing involves and who wants to try some of the techniques for themselves, it may be all you need." --Network Security, December 2011