Windows 8: Hacking & Securing - Complete Course

Explore how integrated secure boot strengthens Windows 8 security across devices by validating boot loaders and firmware, using EFI/UEFI to replace BIOS and defend against rootkits before startup.

Explore the unification and security advantages of UEFI, including a modular architecture, os-level updates, trusted digitally signed code, and a robust trust hierarchy that replaces legacy bios.

Explore the benefits of Windows on an EFI device, including Windows Update integration, remote recovery key sharing, and secure pre-boot and boot-process monitoring with TPM and BitLocker.

Compare UEFI booting with BIOS booting and explain the secure boot process. Demonstrate how digital signatures and loader verification prevent rootkits and untrusted modules from loading at startup.

Compare Windows 7 and Windows 8 boot sequences, focusing on EFI startup, signed modules, and early malware protection, and discuss Windows to go on USB.

Explore how to mount WIM files from the Windows installation disk, switch between classic and standard interfaces, and unpack WIM images to access multiple Windows editions.

Explore how the wiifm file enables Windows 8 installation across architectures with read-only or read-write mounting and compression.

Boot Windows 8 from a USB drive by unpacking the WIM image onto a USB stick and running the OS from removable media. Activate via key hash and hardware IDs.

Explore Windows to go benefits by booting from USB for security, enabling a portable, two-partition system with a FAT32 boot partition and an NTFS system partition.

Explore how Windows 8 introduces new account types, including local and Microsoft accounts, tethered to Windows Live ID for sign-in and synchronized settings across trusted devices.

Learn how Windows Live ID enables splash-screen logins, email access, and online purchases, plus trust this pc verification and Metro app full-screen behavior.

Windows Live ID security trumps functionality, as admins cannot reset a Windows Live ID password, preventing sign-in on work PCs and signaling a Windows 8 solution.

Explore passwordless sign-in options, including picture password and a four-digit pin, and learn how to enable these alternatives while understanding their security implications.

Explore how a picture password signs you in on tablets by making three gestures on a chosen image to verify identity, using circles, lines, or combinations.

Configure automatic sign-in in Windows 8 by adjusting account properties in a hidden control panel applet, enabling a single user to log in without password prompts.

Install Windows 8, select an edition, create user accounts, and learn authentication methods, driver installation, and easy transfer of settings from Windows 7.

Preinstall drivers in Windows using a two-stage process where an administrator loads driver files into the drivers store folder, enabling automatic plug-and-play installation for standard users.

Use the device manager to update and view all drivers in Windows 8, while the tool flags unsigned drivers and warns that unsigned drivers threaten system integrity and stability.

Block installation of selected devices using a group policy object editor to disallow drivers for specific hardware IDs, preventing unauthorized plug-and-play device installations on Windows 8.

Discover how Windows 8 encryption and advanced disk partitioning prevent data loss and accidental file modification, offering support for modern partition tables, larger partitions, and checksums.

Explore on-the-fly conversion between MBR and GPT in Windows 8, and differentiate basic and dynamic disks, including RAID 0, 1, and 5 for data protection.

Convert a basic disk to a dynamic disk to create a single partition across multiple disks, and safely shrink partitions with Disk Management in Windows 8 to create new volumes.

Explore converting basic to dynamic disks and implementing MBR to GPT on unpartitioned disks, then create cross-disk volumes, including a mirrored RAID-1 set, with NTFS formatting.

Simulate a disk failure by setting a disk offline; redundancy disappears while data on the online volume remains intact, then bring the disk online or use the reactivation wizard.

Configure quotas on Windows volumes to monitor per-user disk space, deny space to users who exceed their limit, and warn as they near their quota with global or local settings.

Create and attach VHDL dx virtual disks in Windows 8 Disk Management, gaining up to 64 TB capacity and checksum-based data integrity. Use dynamic expansion to grow disks as needed.

Initialize the new virtual disk and create a partition with letter G using the Disk Management wizard, then use virtual disks by opening the file or mounting them as drives.

Explore how Windows 8 enhances BitLocker data encryption by encrypting entire disks and used disk space, enabling pre-install encryption, protecting USB and SAN storage, and enabling network-based recovery with TPM.

BitLocker drive encryption for removable drives, including BitLocker to go without a TPM, uses a password and a recovery password stored in a file or Microsoft account.

Demonstrate BitLocker encryption on a disk with fast background processing and accessible data, then unlock the drive on Windows 7 with a password to use Windows 8 encrypted USB drives.

Open Windows Explorer and go to the pictures folder to test file history; view archived versions and restore the original file by overwriting the newer version with the older one.

Explore NTFS permissions and access control lists, including inheritance and explicit permissions, and how moves within the same partition update ACLs to preserve security.

Explore efs encryption for files and folders and set share permissions with full or read-only rights; learn about dynamic aclc and the new classification tab for tagging documents.

Enable dynamic access control through document classification attributes, using the data classification toolkit for automatic tagging, and employing inheritance with conditional access control lists governed by central policies.

Explore Sky Drive in Windows 8 through the built-in Metro app for secure cloud storage with Live ID, and optionally sync with a Sky Drive client across devices.

Sign in with a Microsoft account to access Sky Drive as a local disk and sync files across devices, then use Office Web Apps to create Word and Excel documents.

Discover how Windows 8 secures network access and enhances security by supporting IPv4 and IPv6 dual stack, configuring IP addresses, subnet masks, default gateways, and DNS.

Learn how to access and configure network connections in Windows 8, using the start screen, settings bar, and control panel to manage network and internet options.

Explore how the Network and Sharing Center configures private and public networks, IP addresses, DNS, and default gateways, including DHCP, APIPA, and alternative IPv4 configuration for home and work networks.

Understand private versus public addresses, including 10.x.y.z, 172.16–172.31, and 192.168, and how routers use NAT to hide hosts from direct internet access.

Learn how IPv6 addresses the IPv4 exhaustion with longer addresses and private ranges. Configure IPv6 manually or automatically, including stateless and stateful setups, with link-local and global address ranges.

Understand IPv6 address formatting in hexadecimal with the double colon, including loopback, link-local, and private unicast addresses, plus tunneling options like 6to4 and 6in4 for IPv4 compatibility.

Explore remote access with direct access, an automatic, encrypted tunnel that secures enterprise connections. Learn IP version 6 setup, auto configuration, and verifying connectivity via the CLI, connecting Windows hosts.

Explore how Windows 8 provides diagnostics and troubleshooting for both IP versions, with automatic repair tools in the control panels to fix internet connections, DNS off line, and IP misconfigurations.

Enable Windows 8 firewall to guard against scans by using work, home, or public profiles, blocking sharing by default and allowing trusted apps via exceptions.

Join a home group from the network and sharing center, select resources to share, and enter the special password used to transfer data in a home group.

Configure Windows firewall in Windows 8 using the exception list to allow apps and manage inbound and outbound traffic, noting private network rules and port-based limitations.

Configure and manage Windows Firewall rules, including inbound rules and port-based exceptions, and enable IPsec protections for secure communications.

Learn how the smart screen filter identifies suspicious sites and blocks untrusted downloads, building a user-reported blacklist verified by Microsoft, and moving protection to the system in Windows 8.

Enable enhanced protected mode via Internet options to isolate tabs and improve malware protection. Learn how metro app mode hides the address bar, increasing spoofing and cross-site scripting risks.

Explore ALSR protection in Internet Explorer 10, including mitigating heap overflow attacks through address randomization and per-module randomizer addresses, with discussion on do not track privacy headers and excess filter.

Explore how Windows Defender in Windows 8 evolves into a full anti-malware scanner with real-time protection, heuristic analysis, and real-time signature updates via online maps.

Windows Defender runs fast with no RAM requirements and starts at system boot without delay. Its interface enables System Center integration, central administration, and non-compliant host blocking via network inspection.

Explore VPN protocols and encryption protocols that secure data over a VPN tunnel, including point-to-point tunneling protocols, L2 protocol, IPsec, Windows 8 support, and direct access features.

Explore the Windows 8 action center and its firewall, updates, malware protection with Windows Defender, nap network access protection, Internet Explorer configuration options, UAC, smart screen, and activation.

Explore the action center in Windows 8, learn about automatic maintenance at 3 am, and how metered connections and Windows Defender protections secure the system.

Describe how user account control, introduced in Windows Vista, deters admin use by automatically stripping permissions and classifying processes as standard, high priority, or untrusted, with secure desktop prompts.

Explore the uac default configuration in Windows 8, including standard users downloading updates and drivers via Windows Update, and three prompt options managed by the control panel.

Explore Windows 8 uac permissions in a virtual machine, observing shield icons and prompts for elevated actions, and compare signed versus unsigned apps with publisher identity warnings.

Discover multiple local group policy to personalize Windows for each user on home devices, apply administrative templates, enforce strong passwords, and require login after screensaver.

Explore creating and applying local group policy objects to specific user configurations using the Local Group Policy Object Editor, admin templates, and a command-line approach in Windows 8.

Learn how the policy processing order in group policy objects determines which settings apply, as later policies override earlier ones and user-specific policies take precedence.

Discover how the Windows Store distributes metro apps securely with isolation and automatic updates. Know pricing and a 20–30 percent commission, plus cross-device installation via Windows Live ID.

Configure the Windows Store client by managing your Windows Live ID, device syncing, and purchase confirmations, while setting language and accessibility filters, update preferences, license sync, and notification options.

Learn how classic apps run on Windows 8 and fix issues with program compatibility troubleshooter, covering user account control, resource protection, Internet Explorer protected mode, and drivers in user mode.

Explore troubleshooting programs in Windows 8 using the compatibility tab to run apps in compatibility mode or as administrator. Try compatibility tests, then consider updates, virtualization, or shim patches.

Learn to configure AppLocker in Windows 8, including rules for executables, Windows Installer, scripts, and metro apps via group policy, with exceptions as needed.

Windows 8 expands address space left randomization to more modules and memory types, adds heap and TB block randomization with TPM-based entropy, and strengthens system process protections.

Windows 8 provides refresh and reset to recover a malfunctioning system; refresh preserves files and metro apps, while reset restores factory state and can wipe disks.

Shows how to craft and inject shell code to terminate a process from inside, using an allowed debugger and Visual Studio to build and test the code.