In recent years networks have become more secure through server hardening and deployment of security devices such as firewalls and intrusion prevention systems. This has made it harder for hackers and cyber criminals to launch successful direct attacks from outside of the network perimeter. As a result, hackers and cyber criminals are increasingly resorting to […]
Dionach Admin
Active Directory Password Auditing (2012)
A customisable and straightforward how-to guide on password auditing during penetration testing and security auditing on Microsoft Active Directory accounts. Update October 2016: A more recent guide can be found in a more recent blog post here. I do a lot of password auditing during penetration testing and security auditing, mostly on Windows Active Directory accounts. There […]
Managing risks due to third party appliances and applications
During several recent penetration tests, my team and I have identified serious security vulnerabilities in systems which are fully patched, and are using reasonably secure authentication mechanisms, supported by effective session management. In many of these cases, the vulnerabilities have been identified in third-party systems and applications, often in the form of dedicated appliances, rather […]
LinkedIn Password Hashes Breach
6.5 million LinkedIn password hashes breached which raises the fear that many more passwords are likely breached. Many passwords were related to LinkedIn. It’s still early days on the leaking of the 6.5 million LinkedIn password hashes. I’ve looked at the text file, and half of them are indeed SHA-1 hashes – the other half […]
Updating OpenDLP to support Oracle Databases for PCI DSS
Updating OpenDLP can support Oracle Databases for the PCI DSS process when looking for credit card numbers and passwords searching Windows or Unix file systems. OpenDLP is an excellent tool for looking for credit card numbers as part of a PCI DSS scoping process, or looking for passwords and other sensitive data during a penetration test. It […]
Gambling Commission ISO 27001 Security Requirements and Penetration Testing
The Gambling Commission requires that remote gambling licence holders get annual ISO 27001 security audits done. This needs to cover a specific subset of ISO 27001 controls, which are listed in section five of the Remote Gambling and Software Technical Standards document. The specific subset focuses on access control, communications and operations, and software development, […]
Configuring Metasploit for Client Side Attacks
During a client side test, several areas need to be setup for a successful attack. In this short article I will describe how to configure Metasploit by making use of the features in the latest release (currently 4.1). The client side attack we are considering here is an email with a link to a download, […]
Virtual Security Management
Virtual Security Management – Virtualisation is amazing for running things simultaneously, on-the-go etc but security problems do come with the positives.” First of all, in the interests of fairness, I should point out that I think virtualisation is amazing. I love the idea that my laptop can run several different, largely independent operating systems simultaneously. […]
Security is a Process, not a Product
Security is a process, not a product – Strong IT security brands encourage the use of a single commercial product but this is not as secure as a process. It’s not a novelty to say that the market is often regulated by the strong business brand and it is no exception for IT security. Companies […]
Custom Access Control
Custom Access Control – Penetration testers may get distracted by technical issues thus forgetting that simple logical flaws could be the security breach cause. As penetration testers we have a tendency to get caught up in the latest exploit, or the most intricate piece of SQL injection or cross-site scripting, and so it is sometimes […]