Introduction to Penetration Testing

Welcome to your first lesson in the world of cybersecurity. In this lesson, we will explore the fundamentals of penetration testing, also known as ethical hacking...

What is Penetration Testing?

Penetration testing is a simulated cyber attack against your system or application to check for exploitable vulnerabilities...

• Black Box Testing: No internal knowledge of the system.
• White Box Testing: Full access to source code and systems.
• Gray Box Testing: Partial knowledge, simulating a user with limited access.

Why Penetration Testing Matters

Cybersecurity threats are increasing rapidly, and organizations are investing heavily in skilled professionals...

Phases of a Penetration Test

• 1. Planning and Preparation: Define scope and permissions.
• 2. Reconnaissance: Information gathering with tools like WHOIS, Google Dorks.
• 3. Scanning: Use Nmap, etc.
• 4. Exploitation: SQLi, XSS, Metasploit, etc.
• 5. Post-Exploitation: Access escalation, etc.
• 6. Reporting: Documenting findings and solutions.

Tools You Will Use

• Kali Linux
• Nmap
• Burp Suite
• Wireshark
• Metasploit
• Hydra