Career in CYBER SECURITY : Where to start ?

1.  I get a lot of queries on my blog posts related to cyber security courses and any time I am in some forum or discussion from all range age  groups regarding serious career scope in India in the field of Cyber Security.Is it worth taking a plunge in a field which currently only has more of a keen interest value rather then offering  lucrative pay packet job?The younger age group which generally has young engineering graduates look little restless of taking the risk but the field is pretty exciting for those who are passionately interested in it.

2.  The field is immense and huge to start with.For a fresher it would be pretty cumbersome to find where to start from.The moment any typical search is made for a cyber security course on google,the results are too huge and confusing to get started on.For a novice guy who doesn’t  have any background in this field but keen to start a career in this field, I would submit few first steps to start before ways and career road automatically starts guiding ahead.

3.   Firstly,make it very clear in your mind that this field is very dynamic...you have to be continuously on your toes to be updated around what’s happening in this field.Millions of cyber incidents are happening,thousands of zero days are being discovered,thousands of case studies are being released about various cyber incidents and as you start understanding you need to prioritize of what all to grasp in detail .....follow up good tweets of cyber security experts.The courses you do in this field will not be like the typical graduation certification that you do once and will make you a B.Tech for the rest of your life without ever some one asking about the syllaabi.Most of the course and certification have a shelf life of 2-3 years after which you need to renew them to continue your professional standing in the market.

4.   The best thing about this field is that you can build your career and get your basics clear by putting in you hard-work along with the world of open-source that’s your window to knowledge bank.Be it the white papers or applications or Operating systems etc most of the entire gambit of tools is free....yes...for last about 8-9 years of my association with the field I have not bought or purchased any software or OS or toolkit to practice basic hacks and penetration tests.

5.   For a start in respect of courses....I would submit that most of the courses valued globally like CEH,CISSP etc by EC-COUNCIL are pretty costly and just doing them does not guarantee anything with respect to job.You have to be aware of lots besides these courses.For a start for a typical Indian novice fresher I would recommend to start with CCCSP,CCCS etc...links given below :

http://cdac.in/index.aspx?id=cyber_security for courses offered by CDAC on cyber security and forensics.

http://esikshak.in/eSikshak/help/English/eSikshak/cccs.htm for CCCS by CDAC

http://esikshak.in/eSikshak/help/English/eSikshak/CCCSP.html for CCCSP by CDAC

more listed at http://anupriti.blogspot.in/2012/12/cyber-security-courses-in-india.html ....though slightly old post...but everything holds good today...

6. Besides these courses which only give a very basic over view of the field,you should start getting conversant with LINUX flavors available viz UBUNTU, Fedora, OpenSuse, Linux MInt etc to mention a few....besides a horde of excellent security distros are available with all possible youtube videos and manuals on the net for helping from scratch.Get conversant and start playing with maximum tools available in these.Few of the distros that I would recommend are listed  below :

- ARCHASSAULT at https://archassault.org/

- Kali Linux at

- BackBox at

- BackTrack R3 at

- Knoppix STD

- Pentoo

- DEFT

- Parrot

- Caine

- Samurai Web Testing framework

- Matriux Krypton

- Bugtraq

- Node zero

- Cyb org

- Helix

- Network SEcurity Toolkit

- Wireshark(not an OS)

- GRML

- Chaos

- Katana

-  Damn Vulnerable Linux

- Auditor

and I must tell you these are only few to test before you start getting basic idea of what’s happening around.

7.   You have to be passionate enough to carry yourself successfully in this field.The moment you are out of touch for whatever reasons you have a lot to catch.Every thing is available on the net..be it the study material...be it any software to start.....you actually do not straight away enrol for a course..prepare yourself with the basics as available vide these distros...basic linux and then do some course to start building your documented profile.If you have reached reading here and you have queries you can get back to me here ....post a comment.

BACKTRACK 5 R3 : ReverseRaider

1.   This post will brief on a tool known as Reverse Raider available in the information gathering menu drop down in Backtrack 5

About the Tool 

2.   ReverseRaider is a domain scanner that uses various techniques, such as wordlist scanning to find target's subdomains or reverse resolution for a range of ip.It's fully multi-threaded and supports permutation on wordlist, IPv6 and various DNS options (e.g. no-recursion).

3. Developed by  Acri Emanuele at crossbower@gmail.com

Usage: reverseraider -d domain | -r range [options]
 

Options:

  -r    range of ipv4 or ipv6 addresses, for reverse scanning
        examples: 208.67.1.1-254 or 2001:0DB8::1428:57ab-6344
  -f    file containing lists of ip addresses, for reverse scanning
  -d    domain, for wordlist scanning (example google.com)
  -w    wordlist file (see wordlists directory...)
 

Extra options:
  

  -t    requests timeout in seconds
  -P    enable numeric permutation on wordlist (default off)
  -D    nameserver to use (default: resolv.conf)
  -T    use TCP queries instead of UDP queries
  -R    don't set the recursion bit on queries

4.   Most of the  DNS enumeration scripts available in backtrack focus on typical DNS but reverseraider does what it sounds like it might do which is enumerate reverse DNS names. Enumerating reverse DNS on an IP or set of IP’s can sometimes reveal information you did not previously have. It is possible to be targeting a web server that has a bunch of virtual hosts and you prefer to track down primary web site on the web server which is where reverseraider may provide the results necessary as it is more likely that the most important site on the virtual web server has reverse DNS configured on the host itself. 

5.   I found out this very useful and exhaustive post at http://www.question-defense.com/2012/04/01/backtrack-5-information-gathering-network-analysis-dns-analysis-reverseraider

This post gives an excellent description with details of three methods of using reverseraider.

BACKTRACK 5 R3 : LBD [ Load Balancing Detector ]

1.   Before we start working on this tool,we need to first get clear of what exactly is Load Balancing?

2.    Load balancing is a method to distribute workload over multiple computers , network links, central processing units, disk drives, or other resources, to achieve optimal resource utilization, maximize throughput, minimize response time, and avoid overload. So before any one performs a penetration test, some recon work needs to be done on the target domain to make sure it does not have the ability to misdirect any probes and attacks.

About the Tool : LBD

3.   LBD (Load Balancing Detector) is a small script that tells if a given domain uses DNS and/or HTTP Load-Balancing (via Server: and Date: header and diffs between server answers). The main purpose of the tool is to check if the given domain uses load balancing.In other words when a server uses load balancing to distribute its work load over multiple systems, it should not get clogged up with excessive requests that prevents disruptions. This will mostly be applicable to renowned websites to reduce their system workload and to prevent malicious DOS attacks.

Usage : ./lbd [Domain]

4.    I could not find any switch option that can be used with the command ....so the usage is simple....I have tried this on two sites : certifiedhacker.com and dvwa.co.uk.Screen shots of the results obtained are seen below :

BACKTRACK 5 R3 : FIERCE

1.  What's in a name ? But here when the name of the tool is FIERCE...it has the potential to grab eyeballs....about FIERCE first....Fierce is a perl script written by RSnake and helps at the first steps of a pentesting ie the reconnaissance. The focus of any pentester  is to gather as much info as possible about the target before starting the attack.Exactly like earlier tools discussed in the Information Gathering drop down of Backtrack 5 R3,FIERCE is used for DNS Enumeration and is a great tool for discovering non-contiguous IP address for a certain company. It is difficult to discover and gather information about a company network which is non-contiguous using traditional tools. Though we can use a normal scanner against an IP range, but if the IP ranges are nowhere near one another there may be chance of missing chunks of networks. For this type of situation FIERCE is used.The following is the working process of FIERCE.

First it asks DNS for the DNS servers of the target. If DNS server of target is misconfigured then fierce attempts to dump the SOA records for the domain. If it fails then it attempts to "guess" names that are common amongst different companies using bruteforce.

2.   The info gained from this tool FIERCE can be used by subsequent tools to be used like nmap, unicornscan, nessus, nikto, etc, since all of those require that you already know what IP space you are looking for.  This does not perform exploitation and does not scan the whole internet indiscriminately.  It is meant specifically to locate likely targets both inside and outside a corporate network.  Because it uses DNS primarily you will often find mis-configured networks that leak internal address space. That's especially useful in targeted malware.

SYNTAX :  perl fierce.pl [-dns example.com] [OPTIONS]  

3.  The switches that can be used with this command are shown in the screen shot below :

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4.    So I tried running the tool on certifiedhacker.com & dvwa.co.uk and the output is shown below vide a screen shot :

certifiedhacker.com

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dvwa.co.uk

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This info will be good enough to march ahead from a pen tester point of view!!!!!!

BACKTRACK 5 R3 : dnswalk

1.   In this post I am going to show how the dnswalk works.Before you use this tool...there is a small twist to the tale...almost all users who use this command will invariably get the message " You will have to enable the component called 'universe'"....and for this..so to resolve refer my immediate earlier post here.First lets see what are the features of this tool...what actually it does and what is the syntax ?

Main Features :

 

2.    Dnswalk is a DNS debugger. It performs zone transfers of specified domains, and checks the database in numerous ways for internal consistency, as well as accuracy. Dnswalk should NOT be used without a firm knowledge of the DNS RFC's. The warnings and errors must be interpreted within the context they are being used. Something may be flagged as a warning, but in reality it is a really bad error. Conversely dnswalk will flag things as warnings and possibly even errors, but they may actually be perfectly "legal" or normal in your specific situation. Dnswalk is not an AI engine. It just provides useful information which you need to interpret.

3.   Another important thing about the tool is w.r.t the syntax.The domain name specified on the command line MUST end with a '.' ie a dot.If u simply type in man dnswalk at the terminal,you will most of the info than I have bought here...The syntax and the switch functions are briefly bought out here :

SYNTAX : dnswalk [ -adilrfFm ] domain.

-r = Recursively descend sub-domains of the specified domain. Use with care.
-a = Turn on warning of duplicate A records. (see below)
-d = Print debugging and ‘status’ information to stderr. (Use only if redirecting stdout) See DIAGNOSTICS section.
-m = Perform checks only if the zone has been modified since the previous run.
-F = perform “forced” checking. When checking an A record, compare the PTR name for each IP address with the forward name and report mismatches.
-i = Suppress check for invalid characters in a domain name. (see below)
-l = Perform “lame delegation” checking. For every NS record, check to see that the listed host is indeed returning authoritative answers for this domain.

Below I have bought out few screen shots on how the command may be used and what it brings out.I have used two domains for practise here.One is certifiedhacker.com and iitk.ac.in.The former does not bring out much but the latter brings out more info that I find amazing......so the first command tries to find zone transfer records of the target domain.

Command : dnswalk -r iitk.ac.in.

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This command with other switches can be used in the same manner as shown above with the following switch combinations :

dnswalk -i iitk.ac.in.

Turns on warning of duplicate A records

dnswalk -a iitk.ac.in.

Performs debugging on the site

dnswalk -d iitk.ac.in.

Checks whether the domains are been modified are not

dnswalk -m iitk.ac.in.

If you wish to perform all the above things through single command line argument you can type the following.The same is shown in the screen shot subsequently

dnswalk -riadmfl iitk.ac.in.

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....and for a website that shows no result like certifiedhacker.com.....the screen shows the answer

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BACKTRACK 5 R3 : dnstracer

1.  Dnstracer is another in the line of information gathering tool in Backtrack 5 R3 that determines where a given Domain Name Server (DNS) gets its information from, and follows the chain of DNS servers back to the servers which know the data. It basically works by sending the specified name-server a non-recursive request for the name. If the name server does returns an authoritative answer for the name, the next server is queried. If it returns an non-authoritative answer for the name, the name servers in the authority records will be queried. The program stops if all name-servers are queried.

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The switches available with the command line are :

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As can be made out from the screen shhot above,the option switches have variety to offer and thus a whole lot of basic info on the specific DNS can be churned out.The syntax of the command is :

dnstracer [options] [host]

-c:    disable local caching, default enabled
-C:   enable negative caching, default disabled
-o:    enable overview of received answers, default disabled
-q     : query-type to use for the DNS requests, default A
-r     : amount of retries for DNS requests, default 3
-s      : use this server for the initial request
-t      : Limit time to wait per try
-v     : verbose
-S      : use this source address.
-4     : don't query IPv6 servers

In the screen shots below I have taken example of the dvwa.co.uk for running the command on.....the command run is

dnstracer certifiedhacker.com

dnstracer -q soa -o certifiedhacker.com

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Running the command with and without switches effects the final output of info as seen in the info....

BACKTRACK 5 R3 : dnsrecon

1.   Dnsrecon is another nice easy to use tool for pen testers for enumeration. The kinds of things dnsrecon can do are as follows:

    - Reverse Lookup against IP range
    - Perform general DNS query for NS,SOA and MX records
    - Cache snooping against Name Servers
    - Google Scanning for Sub Domains and Host

 2.   The command line usage and the few imp switch execution details are briefed here down :

   -h       --help                 Show this help message and exit
   -d       --domain            Domain to Target for enumeration.
   -c       --cidr                  CIDR for reverse look-up brute force (range/bitmask).
   -r       --range               IP Range for reverse look-up brute force
   -n      --name_server    Domain server to use, if none is given the SOA of the
                                      target will be used
   -D     --dictionary         Dictionary file of sub-domain and hostnames to use for
                                       brute force.
    -t     --type                  Specify the type of enumeration to perform:

Available through :
                           
Backtrack -> Information Gathering -> Network Analysis -> DNS Analysis -> dnsrecon

In this blog post,I  will be covering 3 enumeration techniques. These being:

    SRV records Enumeration
    Top Level Enumeration
    Standard Enumeration

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To perform an SRV records enumeration against a domain the following input command will be run:

Code:

./dnsrecon.py -t srv -d

As an example if we wanted to do this to certifiedhacker.com, our command would be as follows:

Code:
./dnsrecon.py -t srv -d google.com

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Top Level Enumeration

For performing a top level enumeration the following command will be used :

Code:
./dnsrecon.py -t tld -d

If the same command is run for google.com,the following command will be used

Code:
./dnsrecon.py -t tld -d google.com
 

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and similarly,to perform an STD (standard) enumeration,the following command is used :

Code:

./dnsrecon.py -t std -d


Using Google as an example again, our command would be:

Code:

./dnsrecon.py -t std -d google.com

The result as seen below in a standard enumeration :

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BACKTRACK 5 R3 : dnsmap

1.  Another useful tool for information gathering is dnsmap....few of you guys may wonder of why to use a variety of tools for information gathering when most of them give more or less the same result.The answer lies in the fact that any kind of additional information can be a hole to exploit later...so in the stage of information gathering,it is always better to collect as much info as possible...so few quickies about what is the purpose of this tool...

-  Get IP addresses associated to each successfully bruteforced subdomain, rather than just one IP address per subdomain.
   
-  Bypassing of signature-based dnsmap detection by generating a proper pseudo-random subdomain when checking for wildcards.

-  Abort the bruteforcing process in case the target domain uses wildcards.
   
-  Ability to be able to run the tool without providing a wordlist by using a built-in list of keywords.
   
-  Saving the results in human-readable and CSV format for easy processing.
   
-  Improved built-in subdomains wordlist.
   
-  New bash script (dnsmap-bulk.sh) included which allows running dnsmap against a list of domains from a user-supplied file. i.e.: bruteforcing several domains in a bulk fashion.
   
[ Source : http://stylodj.wordpress.com/category/how-to-use-dnsmap-tool-backtrack-5-rx/]

2.  So to get to this tool...we need to follow the same route as we have been doing it in past...vide the information gathering sub menu as shown below :

Backtrack - Information Gathering - Network Analysis - DNS Analysis - dnsmap

 

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3.   The basic syntax and switches for the tool are :

./dnsmap sitename.com [options]

and the switches are :

- w for wordlist file)
- r for regular results file
- c for csv results file
- d for delay millisec
-  i for ip's to ignore

4.   The screens below show the usage and execution part as it happens on the screen.

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5.    What we are attempting vide the command executed is to bruteforce all of the subdomains of certifiedhacker.com and saving them to a file called result. I have truncated the output since its very long and thus avoided.So I have only shown some part from the beginning and then as it ends.IN addition if one has a custom wordlist of subdomains he/she can use that as well simply by specifying the -w argument and then the path to the wordlist.So after the run is executed,the final results are seen in a manner shown below vide the screenshots :

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So as seen in the results above...we see there are 924 subdomains with their respective IP addresses.Though in the  screen shots above,we see a common IP address since it is a site for CEH testers.

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In the screen shots above,the result file created is seen and read...so u can see the kind of contents that are stored in the file so generated....

Being CEH : Certified Ethical Hacker V8

1.    After CCCSP,,my efforts to clear a EC-Council exam finally paid off....and today I passed my CEH V8 exam....the feeling of being a CEH is yet to set in...but yess!!!it feels good to clear a exam which has good repu in the security world....one thing I would like to share is that though the exam covers nearly all domains and spheres of security and hacking but still ,end of course does not mean that a guy can hack into any site and create havoc...but yess it does make you understand the nuts and bolts of how one can do it...and more importantly from a CEH point of view...what and where are the vulnerabilities?

2.  CEH is all about offensive hacking.The amount of tools that are available today in the open source world is mind boggling...and the best part is the course ware that the student gets...its great!!!!I can just say that...it all comes with a set of 6 CDs which have thousands of PDFs and tools.If one starts doing each and every practical aspect of this course-ware it will take more than a year to assimilate and do it on a VM platform...so that is definitely going to keep me busy.The best part is that all this is explained with screen shots and step by step instructions.

3.   As i keep doing these practicals on my VM...will try certainly uploading and sharing with you guys!!!!will get my hard copy of the certificate in a few weeks from now...anxiously waiting!!!!

Is PORT SCANNING legal in INDIA?

1.   The IT security guys have so much to experiment and learn vide unending open source information and tools available on the net.Be it BACKTRACK or Wireshark or Nmap or nessus or Canvas(not opensource) or a web scanner like Acunetix or Arachini and the list is unending....there is lots to do...but do we actually know that simply running a port scan on the internet is a crime in other parts of the world?

2.   In countries like Australia,UK , port scanning is recognized as a "potential attempt" to infringe on a system and that's a simple truth....no body would run such tools openly available without intent. Yess!!!...the intent can be educating self but the other side can be bad intent and no one can prove whats the intent inside the person's mind.It may change the moment he realizes he/she is caught.In the United States there is no need to prove intent and port scanning is considered illegal.So even installation of such tools is a crime.So if a naive script kiddie from India goes with his laptop to US with a virtual box machine holding a OS with a port scanner...he is a cyber criminal the moment he lands in the US.

3.   Today we in India do not have straight and clear laws defining whether running such tools or installation is a crime or not coz the whole thing is COMPLEX.The compliance laws across countries vary and that too drastically...it may be acceptable in a country like India and it may be serious offence in US.So seeing from the current state of affairs in India,it does not look like if a day will be near when such stringent guidelines exist in India to restrict all these uses and installations...or let it be restricted to professionals only.....but then who will define a Cyber Security Professional....CDAC or CEH or some other such agency....these institutes can be a critical node in identifying and certifying cyber security professionals to measure and endorse the intent...but at the end of the day we all are humans...and we know that "too err is human"....so a agency certified person finally has himself to decide whether he uses a black hat or a white hat!!!! :-)

4.   Meanwhile students and IT security enthusiasts should take care of running such tools on the internet coz these are serious tools who can break into some one's privacy...and if the victim gets serious after you...things will be bad enough to land you behind bars...so the best place to experiment with such tools is a virtual environment that can be available vide Virtual box or vmware etc....Security guys and enthus should be familiar with the excellent Open Source Security Testing Methodology Manual (OSSTMM), which provides best practices for these situations.

PLEASE TAKE CARE TO RUN THE CYBER SECURITY TOOLS BEFORE THE LAW STARTS RUNNING AFTER YOU