The Ultimate Ethical Hacker's Guide : Build job-ready skills with hands-on labs in recon, exploitation, and professional reporting / Glen D. Singh.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Singh, Glen D.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Penetration testing (Computer security).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (252 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Birmingham : Packt Publishing, Limited, 2026.

Summary:

Develop end-to-end ethical hacking skills with hands-on labs covering reconnaissance, exploitation, and reporting, designed to mirror real security assessments and build job-ready cybersecurity skills Key Features Practice ethical hacking through hands-on labs across the full attack lifecycle Test modern environments, including wireless and.

Contents:

Intro

The Ultimate Ethical Hacker's Guide

Build job-ready skills with hands-on labs in recon, exploitation, and professional reporting

Contributors

About the author

About the reviewer

Table of Contents

Preface

Who this book is for

What this book covers

To get the most out of this book

Disclaimer

Download the example code files

Download the color images

Conventions used

Get in touch

Share your thoughts

Free benefits with your book

How to unlock

Part 1

The Foundation

1

Getting Started with Ethical Hacking

Understanding information security

Information security plans

Pillars of information security

Understanding the methodologies and frameworks of threat actors

The Cyber Kill Chain

Reconnaissance

Weaponization

Delivery

Exploitation

Installation

Command and control (C2)

Actions on objectives

Tactics, techniques, and procedures

Tactics

Techniques

Procedures

Penetration testing methodologies

Ethical hacking concepts

Classes of hackers

Phases of hacking

Scanning

Gaining access

Maintaining access

Clearing tracks

Scoping and limitations

Information security controls

Information security laws and standards

Payment card industry data security standard (PCI DSS)

ISO/IEC 27001

HIPAA

SOX

DMCA

FISMA

Summary

Further reading

2

Setting up an Ethical Hacking Lab

Technical requirements

Ethical hacking lab design

Setting up a virtualized environment

Part 1 - Installing the hypervisor

Part 2 - Creating a virtual network

Part 3 - (Ubuntu users only) Installing Oracle VirtualBox and creating a virtual network

Setting up attack machines

Part 1 - Setting up Kali Linux.

Part 2 - Configuring the network adapter for Kali Linux

Part 3 - Configuring Kali Linux

Part 4 - Implementing local AI power with Ollama on Kali Linux

Setting up vulnerable machines

Part 1 - Building a vulnerable Windows-based virtual machine

Part 2 - Building a vulnerable Linux-based virtual machine

Part 3 - Setting up the Metasploitable 2 virtual machine

Setting up a vulnerable wireless lab

3

Reconnaissance and Footprinting

Footprinting concepts and methodology

Organization information

Network information

System information

Reconnaissance methodology

Reconnaissance using search engines and web services

Lab: Using Google dorking techniques to locate hidden systems

Lab: Identifying organization's subdomains and exposed assets

Part 1: Using Netcraft to profile the public infrastructure of an organization

Part 2: Using Subfinder and DNSx to enumerate subdomains

Part 3: Working with online tools to automate subdomain enumeration

Lab: Using geospatial data to locate an object

Email and web footprinting

Lab: Performing email footprinting

Lab: Identifying sensitive systems using deep web search

Lab: Setting up alerting for a target

WHOIS and DNS footprinting

Lab: Performing WHOIS footprinting

Lab: Performing DNS footprinting

Reconnaissance countermeasures

4

Fundamentals of network scanning

Port scanning

Network scanning

Vulnerability scanning

Host discovery concepts and techniques

ICMP scanning concepts

ARP scanning concepts

UDP scanning concepts

TCP scanning concepts

IP scanning concepts

Lab: Identifying live hosts using Nmap

Lab: Working with Zenmap for host discovery.

Service port and operating system discovery

TCP Connect scan

TCP stealth scan

TCP Inverse scan (with FIN/Xmas/Null inside)

TTL values

Lab: Using TCP scans to identify open ports

Lab: Identifying specific open ports

Lab: Identifying running services and operating systems

Lab: Perform scanning techniques using AI

Scanning beyond IDS and firewalls

Lab: Evade threat detection systems with Nmap

Scanning countermeasures

Part 2

The Attack Phase

5

Enumerating Systems

Enumeration concepts

NetBIOS and SNMP enumeration

Lab: Performing NetBIOS enumeration

Lab: Performing SNMP enumeration

SMTP and DNS enumeration

Lab: Performing SMTP enumeration

Lab: Performing DNS enumeration

Common network service enumeration

Lab: Enumerating Microsoft RPC services

Lab: Enumerating SSH

Enumeration countermeasures

6

Vulnerability Management

Vulnerability assessment concepts

Types of security vulnerabilities

Misconfigurations

Network-based misconfiguration

Host-based misconfigurations

Application vulnerabilities

Buffer overflows

Memory leaks

Resource exhaustion

Integer overflow

Null pointer

Dynamic link library (DLL)

Race condition

Time-of-check to time-of-use (TOCTOU)

Improper handling

Code signing

Poor patch management

Unpatched server

Unpatched networking devices

Unpatched security appliances

Unpatched applications

Design flaws

Third-party risks

Default configurations and passwords

Zero-day vulnerabilities

Legacy systems

Vulnerability classification and assessment types

Vulnerability scoring systems

Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS)

Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE)

National Vulnerability Database (NVD).

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE)

Vulnerability lifecycle

Vulnerability scanning techniques

Vulnerability tools

Lab: Vulnerability scanning using Nessus Essentials

Part 1 - Installing Nessus on Kali Linux

Part 2 - Scanning using Nessus

Part 3 - Analyzing the results

Lab: Getting started with OpenVAS

Part 1 - Installing and setting up GVM

Part 2 - Performing a vulnerability scan

Part 3 - Generating vulnerability reports

Lab: Vulnerability detection using Nmap Scripting Engine (NSE)

Vulnerability reports

7

System Hacking

System hacking concepts

Password cracking concepts

Lab: Network authentication analysis

Lab: Online cracking mechanisms

Exploitation and privilege escalation

Lab: Analyzing service vulnerabilities

Lab: Performing exploitation with EternalBlue (MS17-010)

Lab: Setting up persistence mechanisms in windows

Clearing logs

Lab: Detecting and removing persistence artifacts on windows

Lab: Detecting and removing persistence artifacts on Linux

8

Malware Threats

Malware and APT concepts

Malware vectors

Devices

Outdated software and applications

Rogue applications

Malware components

Advanced persistent threat concepts

Types of malware

Malware analysis concepts

Lab: Perform malware analysis

Malware countermeasures

Part 3

Network and Perimeter Attacks

9

Sniffing Techniques

Understanding sniffing

Types of sniffing

Passive sniffing

Active sniffing

Unsolicited messages

SPAN

Sniffing techniques

CAM table overflow

Lab: Performing a CAM table overflow attack

DHCP-based attacks.

Lab: Performing a DHCP starvation attack

Lab: Setting up a rogue DHCP server

ARP poisoning

Lab: Performing ARP poisoning attack

Sniffing countermeasures

10

Understanding Social Engineering

Social engineering concepts

Human emotions and behaviors

Authority

Intimidation

Consensus

Urgency

Familiarity

Greed

Curiosity

Types of social engineering

Human-based vectors

Computer-based vectors

Mobile-based vectors

Lab: Setting up a phishing campaign

Part 1: Setting up for GoPhish

Part 2: Creating sending profiles

Part 3: Creating a landing page

Part 4: Creating an email template

Part 5: Creating users and groups

Part 6: Launching a phishing campaign

Part 7: Walking through the simulation

Social engineering countermeasures

Common countermeasures for human-based social engineering tactics

Security awareness programs

Implementing robust verification

Implementing common organizational security controls

Common countermeasures for computer-based social engineering tactics

Common countermeasures for mobile-based social engineering tactics

11

Hacking Wireless Networks

Exploring how wireless networks operate

Understanding wireless standards

Wireless security standards

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)

Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA)

Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2)

Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3)

Wireless authentication modes

Personal mode

Enterprise mode

Wireless threats and attacks

Wireless hacking methodology

Lab: Testing a wireless adapter for packet injection

Lab: Performing wireless reconnaissance

Lab: Attacking WEP networks

Lab: Exploiting WPA/WPA2 networks

Understanding Bluetooth attack concepts.

Lab: Perform Bluetooth reconnaissance.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781806661145

OCLC:

1601991443

Publisher Number:

CIPO000394042