Speaker 1: Right, diving in today with a deep dive for all
Speaker 1: you cybersecurity.
Speaker 2: Fans out there, especially for those who well might not
Speaker 2: think of a certain programming language when they picture a
Speaker 2: hacker exactly.
Speaker 1: Our source material today is the book pen Testing with.
Speaker 2: Pearl, ah using Pearl for penetration testing.
Speaker 1: YEP, pen testing for short. Yeah. Think of this deep
Speaker 1: dive as like your cheat sheet to the book's key
Speaker 1: concepts and tools.
Speaker 2: It's a pretty interesting choice, right. You know, we always
Speaker 2: picture some shadowy figure in a hoodie when we think
Speaker 2: about hacking, right, But behind all of that, it really
Speaker 2: boils down to logic and really good programming skills.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it makes you realize that just about anyone could
Speaker 1: learn how to do it. Absolutely, so why peril? It's
Speaker 1: not exactly like the most popular language right now? I know, right,
Speaker 1: but the book makes a really strong argument for how
Speaker 1: useful it is for pen testing.
Speaker 2: It really does. What makes Pearl so powerful for this
Speaker 2: is its ability to manipulate text and interact directly with
Speaker 2: the system, automate network scans like build those, exploit payloads,
Speaker 2: and then analyze all that captured data. Pearls amazing for
Speaker 2: all of that.
Speaker 1: Okay, that makes sense. So the book focus is more
Speaker 1: on how to apply those Pearl skills to these security challenges,
Speaker 1: not so much about teaching you Pearl.
Speaker 2: Itself, right exactly. It assumes you have a basic understanding
Speaker 2: of the language already. It's more about how to think
Speaker 2: like a pen tester who uses Pearl as their weapon
Speaker 2: of choice. I guess you could.
Speaker 1: Say, gotcha, So like a digital Swiss army knife kind of.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Now, the book also mentions Linux quite a bit. Is
Speaker 1: that because most PEN testing is done in a Linux environment?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Pretty much. Linux gives pen sesters the power and
Speaker 2: flexibility they need to really dig deep into these systems.
Speaker 2: The book kind of assumes you have some basic Linux
Speaker 2: command line skills already, you know, like navigating directories, looking
Speaker 2: at files, and running programs.
Speaker 1: The basics, but still crucial. Oh yeah, So let's say
Speaker 1: you're starting appentist. What will be the first step reconnaissance?
Speaker 2: It's all about scoping things out.
Speaker 1: We call it network foot printing, okay, like gathering intel.
Speaker 2: Yeah exactly. We're trying to find active hosts, open ports,
Speaker 2: and even the types of operating systems that are being used.
Speaker 1: So itis like real detective work. What kind of tools
Speaker 1: would you use for this.
Speaker 2: Oh, there are a bunch. One that you've probably heard
Speaker 2: of is NMAP super Versatile, can be used for all
Speaker 2: kinds of scanning techniques. Another one is h E three
Speaker 2: Really useful for when those typical ICMP requests are being blocked,
Speaker 2: you know, like when you have to craft your own
Speaker 2: custom packets, almost like you're speaking the network's language.
Speaker 1: I'm starting to see how this needs more than just
Speaker 1: technical skills. There's some creativity involved here too.
Speaker 2: Oh for sure.
Speaker 1: The book had this cool example of using n map
Speaker 1: for what they called it syn stealth scan. Can you
Speaker 1: break that down a bit? It sounds pretty uh sneaky?
Speaker 2: It is. You remember the TCP three way.
Speaker 1: Handshake vaguely remind.
Speaker 2: Me, right? So basically the syn stealth scan uses that process.
Speaker 2: It starts by sending syn package to the different ports
Speaker 2: on the target machine. If the port is open, it
Speaker 2: responds with the s Y and ACK packet like it's
Speaker 2: ready to complete the handshake.
Speaker 1: Right, that's normal, yep.
Speaker 2: But instead of finishing that handshake sending that final ACK packet,
Speaker 2: en map throws a curveball and sends an RST packet instead,
Speaker 2: you know, or reset.
Speaker 1: Like nope, change my mind.
Speaker 2: Uh huh yeah, pretty much. The target machine just thinks, oh,
Speaker 2: that connection failed. But we've gotten all this valuable information
Speaker 2: about the open ports and we didn't even set off
Speaker 2: any alarms.
Speaker 1: That is sneaky. So we've mapped the network, we've found
Speaker 1: some open doors.
Speaker 2: Now what time to get into fingerprinting those devices and services.
Speaker 1: Okay, so what exactly does that mean.
Speaker 2: It's like analyzing those fingerprints left at a crime scene.
Speaker 2: We look at those network responses to figure out the
Speaker 2: operating systems, what services are running, and you know, any
Speaker 2: other juicy details we can find.
Speaker 1: So basically gathering more specific data that can be used later.
Speaker 2: On exactly and understanding network protocols is super important here,
Speaker 2: things like TCP and net bios makes sense.
Speaker 1: The book had a cool example of a Pearl script
Speaker 1: using the netinfo dot discovery dot net bios module. Can
Speaker 1: you walk us through that one?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So that example shows you how to get info
Speaker 2: about those hosts on a subnet by sending net bios
Speaker 2: name service queries. They're normally used to convert names to
Speaker 2: IP addresses, but we can kind of trick hosts into
Speaker 2: giving up some information about themselves.
Speaker 1: Oh so you're using these network protocols in ways they
Speaker 1: weren't necessarily intended.
Speaker 2: For exactly, and that information can be super valuable when
Speaker 2: you're planning the next stages of a penetration test. Now,
Speaker 2: let's shift gears a bit to something you're probably using
Speaker 2: every single day, Web applications.
Speaker 1: Web apps are everywhere these days, and I know they
Speaker 1: could be like major targets for a text.
Speaker 2: Sure, web apps often have vulnerabilities that attackers can exploit
Speaker 2: to get access to sensitive data or even take control
Speaker 2: of the whole system.
Speaker 1: The book mentions a few vulnerabilities that sound scary, things
Speaker 1: like cross site scripting, SQL injection, and file inclusion vulnerabilities.
Speaker 2: They can be pretty dangerous they're exploited, and that's where
Speaker 2: Pearl comes in. You can use it to both find
Speaker 2: and exploit these vulnerabilities.
Speaker 1: I remember reading about blind sequel injection. It sounded like
Speaker 1: something right out of a spy movie.
Speaker 2: Ha huh. It's a bit like that. Wine squel injection
Speaker 2: is used when attackers can't directly see any error messages
Speaker 2: from the database. Think of it like trying to open
Speaker 2: a combination lock just by listening to those clicks of
Speaker 2: the tumblers as you're turning the dial.
Speaker 1: So they're sending queries and trying to figure out if
Speaker 1: they're on the right track based on how the application risponds.
Speaker 2: Exactly. They're trying to piece together information about the database
Speaker 2: and eventually extract that data without setting off any alarms.
Speaker 1: And you can use Pearl to automate this.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Pearl's really good at handling strings and manipulating data,
Speaker 2: so it's great for making those SEQL queries and then
Speaker 2: interpreting the responses.
Speaker 1: I see, very strategic. Okay, let's switch gears again. Talk
Speaker 1: about wireless networks. I've always felt like Wi Fi is
Speaker 1: inherently less secure? Am I wrong?
Speaker 2: Wireless networks definitely have their own challenges. The older security
Speaker 2: protocols especially, can be full of vulnerabilities.
Speaker 1: The book mentions deauthentication attacks. Are those as simple as
Speaker 1: they sound?
Speaker 2: They're surprisingly simple.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Basically, you send these specially crafted packets that force clients
Speaker 2: to disconnect from the network. Imagine cutting the phone lines
Speaker 2: before you break into a house.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's a good analogy. And once they're disconnected, they're
Speaker 1: even more vulnerable, right, especially when they try to reconnect Exactly.
Speaker 2: Now, the book goes really deep into the eight oh
Speaker 2: two point all one protocol you know the tech behind
Speaker 2: Wi Fi, and shows how you can use Perl to
Speaker 2: analyze and even manipulate those wireless packets.
Speaker 1: Okay, last thing for today, let's talk passwords. I know
Speaker 1: cracking passwords can be tough. Is it mostly just broof
Speaker 1: forcing them?
Speaker 2: It's more of a mix of probability and processing power.
Speaker 2: A lot of times we're talking about offline attacks, like
Speaker 2: when attackers have gotten those password hashes.
Speaker 1: Right, I remember reading about those.
Speaker 2: So those hashes are like one way transformations of the passwords.
Speaker 2: They're not the passwords themselves, gotcha.
Speaker 1: So how do they actually crack the hashes?
Speaker 2: A couple of ways. You've got dictionary attacks. They use
Speaker 2: lists of common passwords and brute force methods, which basically
Speaker 2: try every single combination of characters. Both of these methods
Speaker 2: rely on hashing those potential passwords and seeing if they
Speaker 2: match the stolen ones.
Speaker 1: It's like trying every key on a giant key ring
Speaker 1: until one fits exactly.
Speaker 2: And how long it takes depends on how complex the
Speaker 2: passwords are and the hashing algorithm that was used.
Speaker 1: The book mentioned a couple algorithms, SAHA one and MD
Speaker 1: five are those still used today.
Speaker 2: MB five is pretty much a relic now super weak
Speaker 2: SAHA one is still out there, but it's showing its age.
Speaker 2: The book also shows you how to use Pearl to
Speaker 2: crack WPA two passwords by looking at captured handshake packets.
Speaker 2: You know how devices establish that secure connection.
Speaker 1: That sounds super advanced.
Speaker 2: It can be, but the basic idea is to capture
Speaker 2: those packets, analyze them with Pearl, and try to get
Speaker 2: that pre shared key that's used to encrypt the traffic.
Speaker 1: Gotcha. Okay, let's talk about social engineering. This is where
Speaker 1: the human element comes in, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. It's all about manipulating people to gain access to
Speaker 2: systems or information, so.
Speaker 1: Like phishing emails, fake websites, even messing with social media accounts,
Speaker 1: all of that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of scary how attackers can use psychology
Speaker 2: to get around those security measures.
Speaker 1: The book talks about how peerl can automate some of
Speaker 1: these social engineering tasks. What's an example of that.
Speaker 2: Well, imagine you want to send out a ton of
Speaker 2: phishing emails. You can use Perl to make each email
Speaker 2: seem personalized so they're more convincing. You can even use
Speaker 2: Pearl to clone websites and make those fake login pages
Speaker 2: that look almost exactly like the real thing.
Speaker 1: So sneaky. It's not just about technical skills, it's about
Speaker 1: knowing how people think exactly.
Speaker 2: And that's why it's so important to think about the
Speaker 2: ethical side of social engineering when you're pen testing, you know,
Speaker 2: understanding the impact and always being responsible.
Speaker 1: Okay, so we found vulnerabilities, tested exploits, gathered tons of data.
Speaker 2: What happens next, time to write it all up. Recording
Speaker 2: is a key part of pen testing.
Speaker 1: Makes sense. You've got to communicate your findings in a
Speaker 1: way that's clear and.
Speaker 2: Makes sense exactly. And guess what Pearl can help with
Speaker 2: that too. Perl is great at processing texts, so it's
Speaker 2: perfect for making all those different kinds of reports. You
Speaker 2: can make text files csvs HTML for those web reports,
Speaker 2: even PDFs if you need to make things super official.
Speaker 1: I can definitely see how that would be helpful to
Speaker 1: organize all of that data and present it in a
Speaker 1: way that clients understand. The book even mentioned using Pearl
Speaker 1: to add visual elements to the report.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, for sure. Imagine making graphs and charts right
Speaker 2: there in your report, stuff like vulnerability counts, or even
Speaker 2: those attack paths. Maybe a visual that shows the whole
Speaker 2: security posture of the target. Clients really love visuals.
Speaker 1: Absolutely makes it much easier to digest all that info.
Speaker 1: Speaking of digging for information, the book had a section
Speaker 1: on using Perl for what they called DNS enumeration. What
Speaker 1: is that exactly?
Speaker 2: Okay, so think of it like being detective, but you're
Speaker 2: trying to find all those secret rooms in a mansion.
Speaker 1: Maybe Okay, I like that analogy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So DNS enumeration is all about sending queries to
Speaker 2: DNS servers trying to get information about the target domain,
Speaker 2: things like IP addresses, mail servers, and even some hidden subdomains.
Speaker 1: Hidden subdomains, that sounds interesting. Why would they be hidden
Speaker 1: and what kind of information could they lead to?
Speaker 2: Sometimes they're like accidental leftovers from when the website was
Speaker 2: being built. Oh like jump tours, Yeah exactly. They might
Speaker 2: have old versions of web applications on them, or even
Speaker 2: internal systems that accidentally got exposed to the whole Internet.
Speaker 2: Finding those can be a huge win, So.
Speaker 1: It's like striking gold pretty much.
Speaker 2: The book gave an example of using the net DNS
Speaker 2: module to basically brute force those subdomains broote forcing them.
Speaker 1: How does that work.
Speaker 2: It's like generating a big list of all the possible
Speaker 2: subdomains and then sending a query for every single one
Speaker 2: of them to the DNS server.
Speaker 1: So like trying a ton of keys to see which
Speaker 1: ones fit the exactly.
Speaker 2: Okay, So let's say we've gathered all this intel and
Speaker 2: we have a good map of the target network. What's
Speaker 2: the next step in appentist.
Speaker 1: What do we do with all that info?
Speaker 2: We dive into service discovery, start poking around and seeing
Speaker 2: what services are actually running on the systems we've found.
Speaker 1: So after finding the doors, we're checking if they're unlocked.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great way to put it. We're looking
Speaker 2: for things like web servers, mail servers, file sharing services,
Speaker 2: really anything that might have a weakness we can exploit.
Speaker 2: One technique the book mentioned is banner grabbing.
Speaker 1: Banner grabbing, What's that?
Speaker 2: It's a super quick and easy way to get a
Speaker 2: basic overview of what's running on a specific port.
Speaker 1: How do you actually grab a banner?
Speaker 2: You send a special request to the service and then
Speaker 2: look at the response. We're looking for clues like the
Speaker 2: software name and the version number.
Speaker 1: That's smart. So if you can find an outdated or
Speaker 1: vulnerable service, you know exactly where to focus your attack.
Speaker 2: Bingo. It's like having a blueprint for the attack. Now
Speaker 2: let's talk about something, and it's become a huge target
Speaker 2: for attackers. Web applications web apps.
Speaker 1: Are basically everywhere, and they can be a real security
Speaker 1: nightmare if they weren't built right.
Speaker 2: That's true. Web apps often have those vulnerabilities that attackers
Speaker 2: can use to get sensitive data or even take control
Speaker 2: of the whole system. SQL injection is a common one,
Speaker 2: and the book goes into a lot of detail about it.
Speaker 1: I've heard of that it sounds like a really clever
Speaker 1: way to get around security measures.
Speaker 2: It is. It targets web forms that were designed or
Speaker 2: coded poorly. The attacker messes with those input fields and
Speaker 2: they inject malicious code that the database then runs.
Speaker 1: So they're tricking the database into doing something it shouldn't.
Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty much. The book has this example of using
Speaker 2: Perl in a module called LWP user Agent to actually
Speaker 2: exploit one of those vulnerable forms. It showed how attackers
Speaker 2: can get data from a database even when you don't
Speaker 2: see any error messages. They call that blind sequel injection.
Speaker 1: Blind sequel injection. It sounds like reading someone's mind without
Speaker 1: them knowing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, kind of. The attacker has to ask all these
Speaker 2: indirect questions and really pay attention to how the application responds.
Speaker 1: Wow, that sounds super challenging.
Speaker 2: It is, but Perl can help a lot because it's
Speaker 2: so good with string handling and manipulating data. It's all
Speaker 2: about precision and being strategic.
Speaker 1: It all makes sense. So what about cross site scripting?
Speaker 1: I know that's another big web app vulnerability.
Speaker 2: Cross site scripting or XSS is how attackers slip malicious
Speaker 2: JavaScript code into a web page that other people will see.
Speaker 1: Oh, I see. So they're like setting a trap on
Speaker 1: the website for someone else to fall into.
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, And then when someone visits that page, their
Speaker 2: browser runs that malicious code, which could do a lot
Speaker 2: of damage.
Speaker 1: Like what kind of davature are we talking about.
Speaker 2: It could steal their login info, send them to a
Speaker 2: fake website, even give the attacker control of their whole browser.
Speaker 1: That sounds pretty bad.
Speaker 2: It can be, Yeah, and you can use Pearl to
Speaker 2: automate finding and exploiting those EXSS vulnerabilities. Really like how
Speaker 2: the book kind of whole Pearl script for it. It
Speaker 2: could scan a website and look for possible vulnerabilities, even
Speaker 2: craft those malicious codebits to inject.
Speaker 1: Wow, Pearl is really versatile. The book also mentioned file
Speaker 1: inclusion vulnerabilities, specifically local file inclusion LFI and remote file
Speaker 1: inclusion RFI. What's the difference between those two?
Speaker 2: Both of them exploit vulnerabilities that let attackers trick the
Speaker 2: web server into including files it shouldn't. It's like convincing
Speaker 2: the server to read a file it doesn't have access to.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm falling so far. What kind of problems could
Speaker 1: that cause?
Speaker 2: Attackers could get into sensitive files, run their own malicious code,
Speaker 2: or even take over the entire server.
Speaker 1: Yikes. So what's the difference between LiFi and RFI.
Speaker 2: The difference is where those files are located.
Speaker 1: So LiFi is when the attacker tries to get a
Speaker 1: file that's already on.
Speaker 2: The server exactly. It's like sneaking into a restricted area
Speaker 2: in a building.
Speaker 1: Okay, So then what's RFI.
Speaker 2: RFI means they're trying to include a file from a
Speaker 2: remote server, one that they control, like calling in back
Speaker 2: up from outside.
Speaker 1: I get it. So they're bringing in their own tool yep.
Speaker 2: Pretty much The book had an example of using Pearl
Speaker 2: to exploit an LFI vulnerability to actually get into the
Speaker 2: etceterpass rid file on a Linux server.
Speaker 1: Wait, what's that? What's in that file?
Speaker 2: Oh, that one's a gold mine. It's got usernames, home directories,
Speaker 2: sometimes even encrypted passwords. If an attacker can get into that,
Speaker 2: that's a huge win for them.
Speaker 1: That makes sense. The book also had an example about
Speaker 1: RFI using it to run PHP code on the server.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's super dangerous. RFI gives attackers a ton
Speaker 2: of control. It's like planting a bomb and setting it
Speaker 2: off whenever they want.
Speaker 1: That is terrifying. Okay, let's move on to something else.
Speaker 1: I'm really curious about packet capturing an analysis. What is
Speaker 1: that all about.
Speaker 2: It's basically like grabbing those raw network profit snapshots as
Speaker 2: they're passing through a network interface. Imagine listening in on
Speaker 2: all the digital conversations happening around you. Pearl is super
Speaker 2: helpful for analyzing and messing with that captured data.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the book had a whole section on using Perl
Speaker 1: to pick apart those TCP packets. It seemed pretty technical.
Speaker 2: It is, you need to understand those network protocols. And
Speaker 2: how those packets are structured. But Perl makes it easier
Speaker 2: to do that suck well. Perl has special modules for it,
Speaker 2: like netpacket dot Ethernet, netpacket dot IP, and netpacket dot TCP.
Speaker 2: They can all decode the different layers of a TCP.
Speaker 1: Packet, like having a secret decoder ring for network traffic exactly.
Speaker 2: You can see all those individual fields inside the packet heather,
Speaker 2: things like the IP addresses, port numbers, those sequence numbers,
Speaker 2: even the TCP flags that control how that connection flows.
Speaker 1: It's amazing how much information is hidden in there. The
Speaker 1: book had an example about using Pearl to pull data
Speaker 1: from an HTTP packet that was captured in the man
Speaker 1: in the middle attack.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Man in the middle attacks are sneaky. That's
Speaker 2: when someone's listening in on a conversation, maybe even changing
Speaker 2: it without the other two parties knowing.
Speaker 1: Like tapping a phone line.
Speaker 2: Exactly. By capturing and then analyzing those packets, you can
Speaker 2: see all the information that's being shared, including things like usernames, passwords,
Speaker 2: maybe even financial info.
Speaker 1: It's scary how easy it is to snoop these days.
Speaker 1: What about HTTPS? Doesn't that encrypt everything, making it harder
Speaker 1: to spy.
Speaker 2: It does make it tougher, but there are still ways
Speaker 2: for attackers to get around it. The book mentioned a
Speaker 2: tool called SSL strip, which can downgrade that HTTPS connection
Speaker 2: to regular HTTP. Suddenly, all that traffic is vulnerable.
Speaker 1: Again, so they trick the website and the user into
Speaker 1: thinking they're having a private conversation when really they're broadcasting
Speaker 1: everything exactly.
Speaker 2: It's super important to always be aware of these attacks
Speaker 2: and make sure you're only connecting to websites using that HTTPS.
Speaker 2: Look for that little lock icon in the address bar.
Speaker 1: Good advice. Okay, what about wireless attacks? Those seem like
Speaker 1: a whole different category.
Speaker 2: They are. Wireless networks have their own set of security problems.
Speaker 2: Remember those deauthentication attacks.
Speaker 1: We talked about, Yeah, kicking everyone off the network sounds
Speaker 1: pretty disruptive.
Speaker 2: Oh it is. The book showed how attackers can use
Speaker 2: Pearl and a tool called air cracking to create those
Speaker 2: deauthentication packets.
Speaker 1: That's powerful. What about actually cracking those WEP and WPA
Speaker 1: two passwords? Those are what secure most Wi Fi.
Speaker 2: Networks, right they are WEP or wired equivalent privacy is
Speaker 2: an older one that's not very secure anymore. WPA two,
Speaker 2: which stands for Wi Fi Protected Access to is the
Speaker 2: current standard and it's way more secure, but it can
Speaker 2: still be broken.
Speaker 1: How do they do that? How do attackers crack those passwords?
Speaker 2: For WPA two, it's all about capturing that four way
Speaker 2: handshake when a device is connecting to the network. Once
Speaker 2: they have that, they can try brute forcing it or
Speaker 2: using a dictionary attack to guess the password.
Speaker 1: The book showed how to use Pearl and Air cracking
Speaker 1: for that. How long does it usually take to crack
Speaker 1: a password?
Speaker 2: It really depends on how strong the password is. The
Speaker 2: longer and more complex it is, the harder it is
Speaker 2: to crack.
Speaker 1: That's why it's so important to have those strong passwords. Okay,
Speaker 1: we've covered a lot today. We talked about network tacks,
Speaker 1: web applications, and wireless attacks. What about social engineering? Isn't
Speaker 1: that all about taking advantage of people's weaknesses? It is.
Speaker 2: It's about manipulating people to get into systems or information.
Speaker 1: It's amazing how attackers can use psychology to get around security.
Speaker 1: The book showed how you can use Perl for those
Speaker 1: social engineering tasks. What would be a good example of that.
Speaker 2: Imagine you want to send out a bunch of phishing emails.
Speaker 2: You could use Perl to make each email look personalized
Speaker 2: so it seems more believable. You can even clone websites
Speaker 2: and make those fake login pages that look just like
Speaker 2: the real deal.
Speaker 1: It's pretty sneaky. It's not just about being technical. You
Speaker 1: have to understand how people think and what makes them.
Speaker 2: Trust things exactly. That's why the ethics of social engineering
Speaker 2: are super important. In pen testing, you have to understand
Speaker 2: the impact and always be responsible.
Speaker 1: Okay, after all that testing and gathering information, what's the
Speaker 1: next step you have to put it all together? Right?
Speaker 2: Yeah, we call that the penetration testing report. It's really important.
Speaker 1: That's how you explain everything you found and give recommendations
Speaker 1: to the client exactly.
Speaker 2: And the book talked a lot about how those reports
Speaker 2: need to be written for the audience. A report for
Speaker 2: a tech team is going to look a lot different
Speaker 2: than one for the executives.
Speaker 1: So the technical one gets into all the details, right,
Speaker 1: the vulnerabilities, the exploits, and the steps to fix them exactly.
Speaker 2: But for the executives, it's more about the big picture,
Speaker 2: the overall risk to the organization. What could happen if
Speaker 2: there's a breach and the high level things they need
Speaker 2: to do to fix it.
Speaker 1: So making sure everyone gets the right info in a
Speaker 1: way that's easy to understand. Can you use Pearl to
Speaker 1: make these reports?
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, for sure. Pearl can pull data from different sources,
Speaker 2: organize it, and even make those charts and graphs to
Speaker 2: make things super clear.
Speaker 1: Visuals are always helpful. A picture really is worth a
Speaker 1: thousand words. Now. Something we've talked about a lot during
Speaker 1: this deep dive is ethical hacking. It sounds kind of
Speaker 1: like a contradiction, I.
Speaker 2: Know, right. Ethical hacking is all about finding vulnerabilities and
Speaker 2: telling the company about them so they can improve their security.
Speaker 2: It's like being a security consultant who can actually show
Speaker 2: them their weaknesses.
Speaker 1: Like showing someone how their luck could be picked so
Speaker 1: they can get a.
Speaker 2: Stronger one exactly. But it's important to remember that ethical
Speaker 2: hackers have to play by the rules. They need to
Speaker 2: be respectful of the client's systems and data, always get
Speaker 2: permission before doing any testing, and be totally honest about
Speaker 2: what they find.
Speaker 1: So it's about using your skills for good, helping those
Speaker 1: organizations stay ahead of the bad guys.
Speaker 2: Exactly. Well, this takes us to the end of part
Speaker 2: two of our deep dive into pen testing with Pearl.
Speaker 2: We've covered a lot of ground exploring how this language,
Speaker 2: which you might not expect, has become a key player
Speaker 2: in the world of cybersecurity.
Speaker 1: It's pretty amazing how many ways you can use Peerl
Speaker 1: for this. We talked about network recon social engineering, web
Speaker 1: app attacks, even incident response, and of course the ethical
Speaker 1: side of things.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Perl might not be the most glamorous language out there,
Speaker 2: but it's super flexible. Plus, it's a pro at manipulating text,
Speaker 2: and it's got this huge collection of modules. It's a
Speaker 2: great fit for security tasks.
Speaker 1: To our listeners, we challenge you to take what you've
Speaker 1: learned here and start exploring Pearl and cybersecurity on your own.
Speaker 2: Play around with the tools, try writing your own scripts,
Speaker 2: and never stop learning. You might be surprised by what
Speaker 2: you can do.
Speaker 1: That's great advice. We'll be right back for the third
Speaker 1: and final part of our deep dive into pent testing
Speaker 1: with Pearl, so don't go anywhere all right back for
Speaker 1: the final part of our Pearl powered cybersecurity deep dive.
Speaker 1: You know, I've been thinking about your question from earlier,
Speaker 1: which one was that about how someone can actually use
Speaker 1: peerl to improve their cybersecurity skills.
Speaker 2: Ah right, it's a good question, makes you think it does.
Speaker 1: What really stands out to me about Pearl is how
Speaker 1: flexible it is. You can automate all those boring tasks,
Speaker 1: get into data analysis, even make your own security tools.
Speaker 2: You're right, that's what makes it so unique. Building those
Speaker 2: custom tools. It's like having a secret weapon.
Speaker 1: Exactly, like no one else has it.
Speaker 2: One area where custom tools are a game changer is
Speaker 2: incident response. You know, when there's security breach, every second counts.
Speaker 2: I can imagine you have to figure out what happened,
Speaker 2: try to stop the damage, and then figure out how
Speaker 2: they got in.
Speaker 1: Sounds intense, like a digital fire drill.
Speaker 2: It can be, But you can use Perl to help
Speaker 2: you go through all those huge log files, connect the
Speaker 2: dots between different events, find those suspicious activities. It can
Speaker 2: even help you contain the breach by like shutting off
Speaker 2: those compromise systems.
Speaker 1: So it's like having a high tech detective on the
Speaker 1: case exactly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, speaking of detective works, something we haven't really talked
Speaker 2: about is how important documentation is, especially those penetration testing reports.
Speaker 2: It's not just about finding the vulnerabilities, it's about explaining
Speaker 2: them in a way that makes sense.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Those reports are how you tell the client what
Speaker 1: you found and what they need to fix.
Speaker 2: And the book really emphasizes that you need to write
Speaker 2: those reports for the people who are going to read them.
Speaker 2: A report for the tech team is going to be
Speaker 2: different from a report for the executives.
Speaker 1: So for the tech people, you'd go into all the
Speaker 1: technical stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like the specifics of the vulnerabilities, how we exploited them,
Speaker 2: and the step by step process for fixing.
Speaker 1: Them makes sense. What about for the executives? What would
Speaker 1: you include for them?
Speaker 2: For them, it's more about the big picture, like what's
Speaker 2: the overall risk to the company, what could happen if
Speaker 2: someone breaks in, and what are the major steps they
Speaker 2: need to take to fix it?
Speaker 1: Okay, I get it. So the tech team gets the
Speaker 1: nitty gritty details and the executives get the high level
Speaker 1: overview exactly.
Speaker 2: You have to make sure that everyone gets the right
Speaker 2: information in a way that they understand.
Speaker 1: Can PERL help with making those reports too, Oh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. You can use it to pull data from
Speaker 2: different places, put it all together, and even generate those
Speaker 2: charts and graphs to make it super clear.
Speaker 1: Visuals are always so helpful. They say a picture's worth
Speaker 1: a thousand words. Now, something we've been talking about throughout
Speaker 1: this whole deep dive is the idea of ethical hacking.
Speaker 1: It sounds a bit strange, doesn't it.
Speaker 2: I know, it's kind of a contradiction. But ethical hacking
Speaker 2: is all about finding those vulnerabilities and telling the company
Speaker 2: about them so they can improve their security.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of like being a good guy hacker.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like a security consultant who can show them exactly
Speaker 2: where their weaknesses are.
Speaker 1: It's like showing someone that their lock can be picked
Speaker 1: so they can replace it with a better one.
Speaker 2: Exactly. But ethical hackers have to have rules, you know.
Speaker 2: They have to be respectful of the client systems and data,
Speaker 2: always get permission before they do any testing, and be
Speaker 2: honest about everything they find.
Speaker 1: So using your powers for good basically exactly.
Speaker 2: Well, this brings us to the end of our deep
Speaker 2: dive into pen testing with Pearl. It's been a fun
Speaker 2: journey figuring out how a language you might not expect
Speaker 2: can be such a great tool in the world of cybersecurity.
Speaker 1: It's been an eye opener for sure. Who knew Pearl
Speaker 1: was so powerful. We covered so much network recon social engineering,
Speaker 1: those web app attacks, incident response, even the ethical side
Speaker 1: of things. It's been great.
Speaker 2: Perl might not be the most popular language, but it's
Speaker 2: definitely versatile. It's amazing at handling text, and it has
Speaker 2: a huge library of modules to choose from. It's a
Speaker 2: perfect match for all kinds of security work.
Speaker 1: So to everyone listening, we challenge you to take what
Speaker 1: you've learned and start exploring Perl and cybersecurity.
Speaker 2: Try out those tools, write your own scripts, and never
Speaker 2: stop learning. You never know what you might be able
Speaker 2: to do.
Speaker 1: That's great advice. Thanks for joining us on this deep dive,
Speaker 1: and remember, stay curious, stay safe, and keep exploring the
Speaker 1: world of cybersecurity.