Cybersecurity Introduction

From the defender’s perspective ransomware is the biggest threat in the modern cybersecurity landscape. From a criminal perspective it’s a highly lucrative form of cybercrime, and perpetrators face only negligible chances of being prosecuted with less than 20 arrests reported in 2020 [1]. The highest amount of ransom ever paid by a single company for a single incident is $40 million US dollars [2][3], however, the cost of a ransomware attack is not limited to ransom payments. Companies can incur millions more in remediation costs, service downtime, legal settlements, higher insurance premiums, and potentially suffer long-term deleterious effects to their brand reputation [4]. One report estimates that 74% of ransomware payments go to Russian backed groups; more than $400 million USD in 2021 [5]. Another report from blockchain research group Chainalysis suggests that nearly $700 million USD in ransomware ransom was paid in 2020 [6] [7]. Not all ransomware strains…

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We Have All Heard This Story Before It’s no doubt that ransomware is is the biggest threat in the modern cybersecurity landscape. The highest amount of ransom ever paid by a single company for a single incident is $40 million US dollars. Companies can incur millions more in remediation costs, service downtime, legal settlements, higher insurance premiums, and potentially suffer long-term deleterious effects to their brand reputation. Blockchain research group Chainalysis suggests that nearly $700 million USD in ransomware ransom was paid in 2020. Defenders have all been hearing this story for years, and know how to secure against ransomware right? The most common initial access vector is phishing so staff training sessions educating our staff on how to spot a deceptive url is required to keep the bad guys out. Installing endpoint security products and keeping them updated, and of course keep bulletproof backups right? Well, yes and no….

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These study notes are provided for students of CompTIA Pentest+ exam. If you notice any problems with the notes, please let me know via email (joseph@ripplesoftware.ca).   General Pentesting Engagement Scoping Information Gathering Vulnerability Scanning Exploitation Process Pentest Tools Exploit Specifics Post Exploit Communication Processes

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