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Introduction
Kali Linux is a Linux-based penetration testing arsenal that aids security professionals in performing assessments in a purely native environment dedicated to hacking. Kali Linux is a distribution based on the Debian GNU/Linux distribution aimed at digital forensics and penetration testing use. It is a successor to the popular BackTrack distribution.
Kali Linux Cookbook provides you with practical recipes featuring many popular tools that cover the basics of a penetration test: information gathering, vulnerability identification, exploitation, privilege escalation, and covering your tracks.
The book begins by covering the installation of Kali Linux and setting up a virtual environment to perform your tests. We then explore recipes involving the basic principles of a penetration test such as information gathering, vulnerability identification, and exploitation. You will learn about privilege escalation, radio network analysis, voice over IP, password cracking, and Kali Linux forensics.
Kali Linux Cookbook will serve as an excellent source of information for the security professional and novice alike. The book offers detailed descriptions and example recipes that allow you to quickly get up to speed on both Kali Linux and its usage in the penetration testing field.
We hope you enjoy reading the book!
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Up and Running with Kali Linux, shows you how to set up Kali Linux in your testing environment and configure Kali Linux to work within your network. Chapter 2, Customizing Kali Linux, walks you through installing and configuring drivers for some of the popular video and wireless cards.
Chapter 3, Advanced Testing Lab, covers tools that can be used to set up more advanced simulations and test cases.
Chapter 4, Information Gathering, covers tools that can be used during the information gathering phase including Maltego and Nmap.
Chapter 5, Vulnerability Assessment, walks you through the usage of the Nessus and OpenVAS vulnerability scanners.
Chapter 6, Exploiting Vulnerabilities, covers the use of Metasploit through attacks on commonly used services.
Chapter 7, Escalating Privileges, explains the usage of tools such as Ettercap, SET, and Meterpreter.
Chapter 8, Password Attacks, walks you through the use of tools to crack password hashes and user accounts.
Chapter 9, Wireless Attacks, walks you through how to use various tools to exploit the wireless network.
What you need for this book
The recipes presented in this book assume that you have a computer system with enough RAM, hard drive space, and processing power to run a virtualized testing environment. Many of the tools explained will require the use of multiple virtual machines running simultaneously. The virtualization tools presented in Chapter 1, Up and Running with Kali Linux, will run on most operating systems.
Who this book is for
This book is for anyone who desires to come up to speed in using some of the more popular tools inside of the Kali Linux distribution or for use as a reference for seasoned penetration testers. The items discussed in this book are intended to be utilized for ethical purposes only. Attacking or gathering information on a computer network without the owner's consent could lead to prosecution and/or conviction of a crime.
We will not take responsibility for misuse of the information contained within this book. For this reason, we strongly suggest, and provide instructions for, setting up your own testing environment to execute the examples contained within this book.
