Introduction to Ethical Hacking

 CEH Notes

A. What is cybersecurity? -  “Cybersecurity is the mission-focused

and risk-optimized governance of information, which maximizes confidentiality, integrity,

and availability using a balanced mix of people, policy, and technology, while perennially

improving over time.”

B. CIA Triad - confidentiality, integrity, availability

C. Defense in depth

D. IAM (Identity and Access Management) - The right people/systems can access the right

information at the right time. - RBAC, SSO, MFA, PAM

E. DLP (Data Loss Prevention)

Information Security Threats and Attacks

A. Attack = Motive (usually financial) + Method + Vulnerability

B. Common motives include data theft, disrupting business operations (continuity),

data manipulation/deletion, creating fear/panic by disrupting critical infrastructure,

religious or political beliefs, brand/reputation damage, Nation State objectives,

and revenge.

C. Common attack vectors - Cloud attacks, APT, malware (viruses, worms, Trojans,

ransomware, etc), mobile device threats, botnets, and insider threats.

D. InfoSec Threat Categories -

E. Network Threats - information gathering, sniffing/eavesdropping, spoofing,

session hijacking and MitM attacks, DNS and ARP poisoning, password attacks,

DoS/DDoS, compromised credentials/key, and firewall/IDS/IPS attacks.

F. Host Threats- malware attacks, footprinting, password attacks, DoS/DDoS,

arbitrary code execution, unauthorized access, privilege escalation, backdoor

attacks, and physical security threats.

G. Application Threats- improper data/input validation, authentication/authorization

attacks, security misconfiguration, information disclosure, broken session

management, buffer overflow attack, SQL injection, XSS (cross-site scripting),

and improper error handling/exception management.

Introduction to Ethical Hacking

A. What is ethical hacking? - Ethical Hacking involves the use of hacking tools,

techniques, and tricks, with permission, to identify vulnerabilities in systems

before they can be exploited by adversaries. Ethical Hackers are commonly

called Penetration Testers (Pentesters) in the industry.