networking Archives

Introduction to Nmap on Kali Linux

28 September 2018 by Nick Congleton

Introduction

Nmap is a powerful tool for discovering information about machines on a network or the Internet. It allows you to probe a machine with packets to detect everything from running services and open ports to the operating system and software versions.

Like other security tools, Nmap should not be misused. Only scan networks and machines that you own or have permission to investigate. Probing other machines could be seen as an attack and be illegal.

That said, Nmap can go a long way in helping to secure your own network. It can also help you to ensure that your servers are properly configured and don’t have any open and unsecured ports. It will also report if your firewall is correctly filtering ports that should not be externally accessible.

Nmap is installed by default on Kali Linux, so you can just open it up and get started.

Creating Wordlists with Crunch on Kali Linux

28 September 2018 by Nick Congleton

Introduction

Wordlists are a key part of brute force password attacks. For those readers that aren’t familiar, a brute force password attack is an attack in which an attacker uses a script to repeatedly attempt to log into an account until they receive a positive result. Brute force attacks are fairly overt and can cause a properly configured server to lock out an attacker or their IP.

This is the point of testing the security of log in systems this way. Your server should ban attackers that attempt these attacks, and should report the increased traffic. On the user end, passwords should be more secure. It’s important to understand how the attack is carried out to create and enforce a strong password policy.

Kali Linux comes with a powerful tool for creating wordlists of any length. It’s a simple command line utility called Crunch. It has simple syntax and can easily be adjusted to suit your needs. Beware, though, these lists can be very large and can easily fill an entire hard drive.

Use Aircrack-ng To Test Your WiFi Password on Kali Linux

28 September 2018 by Nick Congleton

Objective

Test the security of your WiFi password by attacking it

Distributions

This will work with any Linux distribution, but it’s recommended that you use Kali.

Requirements

A working Linux distribution with a WiFi adapter and root privileges.

Difficulty

Easy

Conventions

# – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command
$ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user

Introduction

Most people have terrible passwords, and WiFi is no exception. Your WiFi password is your primary line of defense against unwanted access to your network. That access can result in a whole host of other nasty things because an attacker can monitor the traffic on your network and even gain direct access to your computers.

The best way to prevent such an intrusion is to use the same tools an attacker would to test the security of your WiFi password.

SSH Password Testing With Hydra on Kali Linux

22 September 2018 by Nick Congleton

Introduction

Hail Hydra! Okay, so we’re not talking about the Marvel villains here, but we are talking about a tool that can definitely do some damage. Hydra is a popular tool for launching brute force attacks on login credentials.

Hydra has options for attacking logins on a variety of different protocols, but in this instance, you will learn about testing the strength of your SSH passwords. SSH is present on any Linux or Unix server and is usually the primary way admins use to access and manage their systems. Sure, cPanel is a thing, but SSH is still there even when cPanel is being used.

This guide makes use of wordlists to provide Hydra with passwords to test. If you aren’t familiar with wordlists yet, go check out our Crunch guide.

Warning: Hydra is a tool for attacking. Only use it on your own systems and networks unless you have the written permission of the owner. Otherwise, it is illegal.