Why I give all of my training material away—for free
I’m the developer of a commercial penetration testing product, Cobalt Strike. People are often amazed that I have a free 9-part Penetration Testing course on
Four Levels of Hacking Sophistication with Beacon
Beacon is Cobalt Strike’s payload for red team actions. Beacon is a stable lifeline that can serve as a communication layer. Meterpreter is a fantastic post-exploitation agent
Obituary: Java Self-Signed Applet (Age: 1.7u51)
The Java Signed Applet Attack is a staple social engineering option. This attack presents the user with a signed Java Applet. If the user allows
Cloud-based Redirectors for Distributed Hacking
A common trait among persistent attackers is their distributed infrastructure. A serious attacker doesn’t use one system to launch attacks and catch shells from. Rather,
Stealthy Peer-to-peer C&C over SMB pipes
Beacon is my payload for low and slow control of a compromised system. Recently, I added peer-to-peer communication to Beacon. When two Beacons are linked,
Schtasks Persistence with PowerShell One Liners
One of my favorite Metasploit Framework modules is psh_web_delivery. You can find it in exploits -> windows -> misc. This module starts a local web
Tradecraft – Red Team Operations Course and Notes
A few days ago, I posted the YouTube playlist on Twitter and it’s made a few rounds. That’s great. This blog post properly introduces the
Email Delivery – What Pen Testers Should Know
I get a lot of questions about spear phishing. There’s a common myth that it’s easy to phish. Start a local mail server and have your hacking
What’s in a Team Server?
Clients (like Armitage) interface with the Metasploit Framework through its Remote API. The Remote API is a way for clients to call functions in the
Beacon – An Operator’s Guide
Beacon is a payload in Cobalt Strike that has a lot of communication flexibility. This blog post is not a replacement for the documentation, but rather