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,
Cobalt Strike 01.08.14 – EXE Artifacts: A New Hope
Cobalt Strike has always exposed the Metasploit Framework’s tool to generate executables. Unfortunately, these executables are caught by anti-virus products. I’ve had a lot of
Man-in-the-Browser Session Hijacking
Malware like Zeus and its variants inject themselves into a user’s browser to steal banking information. This is a man-in-the-browser attack. So-called, because the attacker
Why do I always use 32-bit payloads?
Yesterday, one of my customers asked about x64 payloads in Cobalt Strike. Specifically, he wanted to know why Cobalt Strike doesn’t expose them. I’ve already
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,
Reverse Meterpreter Connect-backs through a Compromised Host
<update 03:30pm> I’ve had some feedback that this post describes a concept that is too basic to put into blog form. I can see where this
Cobalt Strike 1.48 – Peer-to-peer C&C
I’m pleased to announce Cobalt Strike 1.48. This release introduces a peer-to-peer data channel for Beacon, improves browser pivoting, and updates the signed applet attack with