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Social Engineering Penetration Testing
Executing Social Engineering Pen Tests, Assessments and Defense
1st Edition - April 11, 2014
Authors: Gavin Watson, Andrew Mason, Richard Ackroyd
Paperback ISBN:9780124201248
9 7 8 - 0 - 1 2 - 4 2 0 1 2 4 - 8
eBook ISBN:9780124201828
9 7 8 - 0 - 1 2 - 4 2 0 1 8 2 - 8
Social engineering attacks target the weakest link in an organization's security human beings. Everyone knows these attacks are effective, and everyone knows they are on the… Read more
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Social engineering attacks target the weakest link in an organization's security human beings. Everyone knows these attacks are effective, and everyone knows they are on the rise. Now, Social Engineering Penetration Testing gives you the practical methodology and everything you need to plan and execute a social engineering penetration test and assessment. You will gain fascinating insights into how social engineering techniques including email phishing, telephone pretexting, and physical vectors can be used to elicit information or manipulate individuals into performing actions that may aid in an attack. Using the book's easy-to-understand models and examples, you will have a much better understanding of how best to defend against these attacks.
The authors of Social Engineering Penetration Testing show you hands-on techniques they have used at RandomStorm to provide clients with valuable results that make a real difference to the security of their businesses. You will learn about the differences between social engineering pen tests lasting anywhere from a few days to several months. The book shows you how to use widely available open-source tools to conduct your pen tests, then walks you through the practical steps to improve defense measures in response to test results.
Understand how to plan and execute an effective social engineering assessment
Learn how to configure and use the open-source tools available for the social engineer
Identify parts of an assessment that will most benefit time-critical engagements
Learn how to design target scenarios, create plausible attack situations, and support various attack vectors with technology
Create an assessment report, then improve defense measures in response to test results
Information security practitioners, information technology leaders, network administrators, computer system administrators, information security engineers, IT professionals, Information security managers, security analysts, and an academic audience among information security majors
Foreword
Acknowledgements
About the Authors
About the Technical Editor
Chapter 1. An Introduction to Social Engineering
Introduction
Defining social engineering
Examples from the movies
Famous social engineers
Real-world attacks
Summary
Chapter 2. The Weak Link in the Business Security Chain
Introduction
Why personnel are the weakest link
Summary
Chapter 3. The Techniques of Manipulation
Introduction
Pretexting
Impersonation
Baiting
Pressure and solution
Leveraging authority
Reverse social engineering
Chain of authentication
Gaining credibility
From innocuous to sensitive
Priming and loading
Social proof
Framing information
Emotional states
Selective attention
Personality types and models
Body language
Summary
Chapter 4. Short and Long Game Attack Strategies
Introduction
Short-term attack strategies
Long-term attack strategies
Summary
Chapter 5. The Social Engineering Engagement
Introduction
The business need for social engineering
Social engineering operational considerations and challenges
Challenges for the social engineers
Challenges for the client
Legislative considerations
Social engineering frameworks
Assessment prerequisites
Key deliverables
Social engineering team members and skill sets
Summary
Chapter 6. Ensuring Value Through Effective Threat Modeling
Introduction
Why the need for threat modeling?
Who would want to gain access to my business?
Summary
Chapter 7. Creating Targeted Scenarios
Introduction
The components of a scenario
Target identification
Pretext design mapping
Planning for the unknown
Designing to fail
Summary
Chapter 8. Leveraging Open-Source Intelligence
Introduction
The corporate website
E-mail addresses
Social media
DNS records
Summary
Chapter 9. The E-mail Attack Vector
Introduction
An introduction to phishing attacks
Why phishing attacks work
Spear phishing versus trawling
Spear phishing
Real-world phishing examples
American Express—drive-by-download
Dr. Atanasoff Gavin—advance fee fraud
Apple ID scam—credential harvesting
Nobody falls for this one. Nobody. Ever.
Active e-mail reconnaissance
Nondelivery reports
Out-of-office responses
The nonexistent meeting
Impersonating the absent staff member
Creating plausible e-mail scenarios
Work experience placements
Weaponizing the scenario
The college project
Weaponizing the scenario
The recruitment consultant
Salesperson
Defending against phishing attacks
Technological approaches
Human approaches
Setting up your own attack
Spoofed e-mails versus fake domain names
The SET
Spear phishing attack vector
Does this approach really work?
Malicious Java applets
Using cloned web sites to harvest credentials
Is all of this really social engineering?
Summary
Chapter 10. The Telephone Attack Vector
Introduction
Real-world examples
Environmental sounds
The issues with caller ID
Caller ID spoofing
Phone system hacks
Is the contact database up to date?
Transferring caller ID
How to figure out if your caller ID shows up
Summing it up
Building on the e-mail attack
Please contact Sarah in my absence
Who ya gonna call?
Job enquiries
Sales calls
Surveys
Impersonating staff members
The help desk
Employee numbers
Obtaining key information and access
Credentials and e-mail access
Physical access
The physical access zero day
Weaponizing your call
Summary
Chapter 11. The Physical Attack Vector
Introduction
Building on the e-mail and telephone attacks
Active information gathering
Props and disguises
Badges and lanyards
Tailgating
Lock picking
Once you’re inside
Summary
Chapter 12. Supporting an Attack with Technology
Introduction
Summary
Chapter 13. Writing the Report
Introduction
Data collection
Writing the report
Delivery of the report
Summary
Chapter 14. Creating Hardened Policies and Procedures
Introduction
Background
Social engineering defense: a proactive approach
Industry information security and cyber security standards
Developing fit for purpose social engineering policies and procedures
Summary
Chapter 15. Staff Awareness and Training Programs
Introduction
Current awareness training
A model for effective training
Summary
Chapter 16. Internal Social Engineering Assessments
Introduction
The need for internal testing
Designing the internal test
Summary
Chapter 17. Social Engineering Assessment Cheat Sheet
Introduction
Social engineering framework
Social engineering cheat sheet
Summary
Index
No. of pages: 390
Language: English
Published: April 11, 2014
Imprint: Syngress
Paperback ISBN: 9780124201248
eBook ISBN: 9780124201828
GW
Gavin Watson
Gavin is the Professional Services Manager at RandomStorm and is responsible for devising and also delivering innovative testing services offered to clients, including the full range of penetration testing and social engineering engagements. Gavin has worked in IT for many years, focusing for the past five years on delivering internal and external penetration tests and social engineering engagements for multiple clients across all verticals.
Affiliations and expertise
Professional Services Manager at RandomStorm
AM
Andrew Mason
Andrew is the co-founder and Technical Director at RandomStorm and is responsible for the formulation and execution of strategy for the technical department within RandomStorm. Andrew has over 20 years experience in IT with recent years focused on Internet security, offering board-level consultancy to numerous enterprise customers within disparate geographical regions. Andrew has authored several infosec titles for McGraw Hill and Cisco Press. His most recent publications have been focused on Firewalls and Threat Mitigation from common vulnerabilities. Andrew has also contributed to several books on networking topics as well as writing numerous articles for online and print trade journals and newspapers including the Sunday Times. Based in the UK, RandomStorm is a global infosec services consultancy providing turnkey solutions to organizations of any size. RandomStorm has offices in UK, US, Canada, Jordan and UAE.
Affiliations and expertise
Co-founder and Technical Director at RandomStorm
RA
Richard Ackroyd
Richard is a Senior Security Engineer for RandomStorm and is involved in the conducting penetration testing and social engineering assessments for clients across all verticals.