Complete Ethical Hacking and Cybersecurity Course

Welcome to this course, where you will learn everything you need to know to become an expert in Ethical Hacking and Cybersecurity!

My name is Santiago Hernández, and I will be your instructor throughout this training program. If you'd like to learn more about me, I recommend checking out the "Course Introduction" video, which is publicly available on this page.

The first thing you should know about this course is that it is highly practical. 95% of the course hours involve real-world use cases demonstrating how to perform the most popular hacking techniques using Kali Linux and the most widely used tools today.

This course is designed for anyone interested in starting their journey in the world of Hacking and Cybersecurity, beginning from a very basic level and advancing as the course progresses to advanced levels. In these advanced levels, you'll learn techniques such as real-time network traffic manipulation and Machine Learning applications in Hacking.

By the end of this course, you will have all the knowledge needed to conduct a security audit or perform Ethical Hacking for an organization and uncover various security vulnerabilities. Additionally, if your interest lies in defensive Cybersecurity, this course will provide the essential insights to understand the most commonly used attack techniques today and design effective defenses against them.

Cybersecurity, and more specifically Ethical Hacking, is one of the most in-demand disciplines with excellent working conditions today. This course is designed so that anyone with enough interest can become a professional in this field. Enroll now and see for yourself.

Course Syllabus

1. Setting Up Your Ethical Hacking Lab with Kali Linux

• Installing VMware and VirtualBox: Learn how to set up virtual environments to safely practice ethical hacking techniques without affecting your main system.

• Installing Kali Linux: Master the installation and configuration of Kali Linux, the industry's leading penetration testing and ethical hacking operating system, and understand its key features and tools.

2. Introduction to Ethical Hacking, Cybersecurity, and Penetration Testing

• Understanding Ethical Hacking Principles: Grasp the ethical and legal considerations in cybersecurity, including white-hat, grey-hat, and black-hat hacking.

• Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing Methodologies: Dive into professional frameworks like OSSTMM, PTES, ISSAF, and OWASP Testing Guide to structure your penetration tests effectively.

3. Passive Information Gathering

• Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT): Utilize publicly available resources to gather information about your target without direct interaction, a crucial step in ethical hacking and penetration testing exercises.

• Techniques and Tools:

  • Google Hacking and Dorking: Use advanced search operators to uncover sensitive data exposed online.

  • Shodan and Censys: Discover internet-connected devices and potential vulnerabilities.

  • Whois Lookup and Archive: Retrieve domain registration details and historical website data for cybersecurity analysis.

  • TheHarvester and Maltego: Collect emails, subdomains, and social network profiles.

  • Recon-ng Framework: Automate reconnaissance tasks for efficient information gathering in ethical hacking.

4. Semi-Passive Information Gathering

• DNS Enumeration: Use tools like DNSDumpster and DNSRecon to map domain information, subdomains, and DNS records.

• Metadata Extraction with FOCA: Analyze documents to uncover hidden data that could be exploited in penetration testing.

• Network Traffic Analysis:

  • Wireshark: Capture and analyze network packets to understand communication protocols in cybersecurity.

  • TCPdump for Ethical Hacking: Use command-line packet analysis for quick inspections.

5. Active Information Gathering

• Network Scanning Techniques:

  • Nmap and Amap: Identify live hosts, open ports, and services running on target machines.

  • Operating System Fingerprinting for Ethical Hacking: Determine the OS and service versions to identify potential vulnerabilities in penetration testing.

• Metasploitable 3 Setup for Ethical Hacking: Create vulnerable virtual machines to practice exploitation techniques safely.

6. Vulnerability Analysis in Ethical Hacking

• Understanding Vulnerability Standards in Cybersecurity:

  • CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures): Learn how vulnerabilities are cataloged for ethical hacking.

  • CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System): Assess the severity of vulnerabilities in cybersecurity.

  • CPE (Common Platform Enumeration): Identify platforms and software versions for penetration testing.

• Exploit Research for Ethical Hacking:

  • Exploit-DB and Metasploit Modules: Find and analyze exploits relevant to discovered vulnerabilities.

• Vulnerability Scanning:

  • Nessus and OpenVAS: Perform comprehensive vulnerability assessments to detect security weaknesses during ethical hacking exercises.

7. Exploiting Host Vulnerabilities

• Metasploit Framework Mastery:

  • Exploitation Techniques: Use Metasploit modules to exploit vulnerabilities and gain system access during penetration testing.

  • Payloads and Encoders in Ethical Hacking: Generate custom payloads with Msfvenom to bypass security mechanisms.

• Armitage GUI for Ethical Hacking: Utilize a graphical interface for Metasploit to streamline exploitation processes in penetration testing.

• Privilege Escalation: Techniques to elevate your access rights after compromising a system during ethical hacking.

8. Web Application Hacking

• Understanding Web Technologies for Ethical Hacking: Get to know HTTP, HTTPS, cookies, sessions, and how web applications function.

• Common Web Vulnerabilities:

  • SQL Injection (SQLi): Exploit database queries to access or manipulate data.

  • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS): Inject malicious scripts to hijack user sessions or deface websites during ethical hacking.

  • Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF): Trick users into performing unwanted actions.

  • File Inclusion Attacks (LFI/RFI): Access or execute unauthorized files on the server.

  • Command Injection: Execute arbitrary commands on the host operating system during ethical hacking.

• Tools and Techniques:

  • Burp Suite: Intercept, modify, and replay web requests for testing during penetration testing.

  • SQLmap: Automate SQL injection detection and exploitation.

  • OWASP ZAP: Identify security vulnerabilities in web applications.

  • XSStrike: Advanced XSS detection and exploitation tool.

• Practice Labs:

  • Mutillidae: Work with deliberately vulnerable web applications to hone your cybersecurity skills.

9. Network Attacks and Exploitation

• Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) Attacks:

  • Bettercap and Ettercap in Kali Linux: Intercept and manipulate network traffic during penetration testing.

  • ARP Spoofing: Redirect traffic by poisoning the ARP cache.

  • DNS Spoofing: Redirect users to malicious sites by altering DNS responses.

• Social Engineering Attacks:

  • Social Engineering Toolkit (SET) in Kali Linux: Craft phishing emails and clone websites to deceive targets.

  • Polymorph: Modify network traffic on the fly.

10. Post-Exploitation Techniques

• Maintaining Access:

  • Backdoors and Rootkits: Install persistent backdoors to retain access during penetration testing.

  • Metasploit's Meterpreter: Utilize advanced post-exploitation features.

• Credential Harvesting:

  • Procdump: Dump process memory to extract credentials during penetration testing.

  • Mimikatz: Extract plaintext passwords, hashes, PIN codes, and Kerberos tickets.

• Hash Cracking:

  • John the Ripper and Hashcat: Crack password hashes using various attack modes during ethical hacking.

11. Machine Learning in Cybersecurity and Ethical Hacking

• Introduction to Machine Learning Concepts in Ethical Hacking:

  • Supervised and Unsupervised Learning: Understand different learning models applicable to ethical hacking.

• Anomaly Detection in Ethical Hacking:

  • Batea Tool: Detect unusual patterns in network traffic during cybersecurity operations.

• Deep Fake Technologies in Cybersecurity:

  • Implications in Ethical Hacking: Learn about deep fakes and their potential misuse in cybersecurity.