PowerShell for Penetration Testing

A practical guide to vulnerability assessment and mitigation with PowerShell

Key Features

• Leverage PowerShell’s unique capabilities at every stage of the Cyber Kill Chain, maximizing your effectiveness
• Perform network enumeration techniques and exploit weaknesses with PowerShell’s built-in and custom tools
• Learn how to conduct penetration testing on Microsoft Azure and AWS environments

Book Description

PowerShell for Penetration Testing is a comprehensive guide designed to equip you with the essential skills you need for conducting effective penetration tests using PowerShell.

You’ll start by laying a solid foundation by familiarizing yourself with the core concepts of penetration testing and PowerShell scripting. In this part, you’ll get up to speed with the fundamental scripting principles and their applications across various platforms. You’ll then explore network enumeration, port scanning, exploitation of web services, databases, and more using PowerShell tools. Hands-on exercises throughout the book will solidify your understanding of concepts and techniques. Extending the scope to cloud computing environments, particularly MS Azure and AWS, this book will guide you through conducting penetration tests in cloud settings, covering governance, reconnaissance, and networking intricacies. In the final part, post-exploitation techniques, including command-and-control structures and privilege escalation using PowerShell, will be explored. This section encompasses post-exploitation activities on both Microsoft Windows and Linux systems.

By the end of this book, you’ll have covered concise explanations, real-world examples, and exercises that will help you seamlessly perform penetration testing techniques using PowerShell.

What you will learn

• Get up to speed with basic and intermediate scripting techniques in PowerShell
• Automate penetration tasks, build custom scripts, and conquer multiple platforms
• Explore techniques to identify and exploit vulnerabilities in network services using PowerShell
• Access and manipulate web-based applications and services with PowerShell
• Find out how to leverage PowerShell for Active Directory and LDAP enumeration and exploitation
• Conduct effective pentests on cloud environments using PowerShell’s cloud modules

Who this book is for

This book is for aspiring and intermediate pentesters as well as other cybersecurity professionals looking to advance their knowledge. Anyone interested in PowerShell scripting for penetration testing will also find this book helpful. A basic understanding of IT systems and some programming experience will help you get the most out of this book.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Introduction to Penetration Testing and PowerShell

Chapter 1: Introduction to Penetration Testing

Chapter 2: Programming Principles in PowerShell

Part 2: Identification and Exploitation

Chapter 3: Network Services and DNS

Chapter 4: Network Enumeration and Port Scanning

Chapter 5: The WEB, REST, and SOAP

Chapter 6: SMB, Active Directory, LDAP and Kerberos

Chapter 7: Databases: MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MSSQL

Chapter 8: Email Services: Exchange, SMTP, IMAP, and POP

Chapter 9: PowerShell and FTP, SFTP, SSH, and TFTP

Chapter 10: Brute Forcing in PowerShell

Chapter 11: PowerShell and Remote Control and Administration

Part 3: Penetration Testing on Azure and AWS cloud Environments

Chapter 12: Using PowerShell in Azure

Chapter 13: Using PowerShell in AWS

Part 4: Post Exploitation and Command and Control

Chapter 14: Command and Control

Chapter 15: Post -Exploitation in Microsoft Windows

Chapter 16: Post -Exploitation in Linux

About the Author

​Dr Andrew Blyth received his PhD in Computer Science from the Computing Laboratory, University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in 1995. He was Professor of Cyber Security / Computer Forensics at the University of South Wales, UK and has more than 20 years of Teaching Experience. He is published numerous Conference/Journal papers in the area of Cyber Security as well as Speaking at security conferences such as Blackhat and 44Con. He has more that 20 years of experience in the area of Penetration Testing and has functioned as a Check Team Leader Assessor for the Tiger Scheme/GCHQ.