Re: [PEN-TEST] First step of a pen-test

[Tom Litney <Tom.Litney () NET-RELIANCE COM>]

Christopher,

  Usually the contract defines the scope of the work to be performed.  I
have been on engagements where we started with nothing and on some where
high level information was provided by the customer.  If wardialing was part
of the scope, I usually asked for all the valid phone number ranges for the
company.  This is because wardialing is technically against the law in my
state and I only wanted to hit targeted numbers.  But basically, we gave the
customer what he wanted.  Engagements where no information was provided
usually required more time and therefore were more costly to the customer.
I always started an engagement with a war room approach where the team would
come up with a strategy on how we wanted to attack the target (within the
scope of the contract).  The first step was to acquire as much information
as possible on the target.  Then resources would be assigned to probe and
exploit potential weaknesses.  So I guess what I'm saying is there is no
"norm" in my opinion.  Each pen-test is different.

   Tom

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Penetration Testers [mailto:PEN-TEST () SECURITYFOCUS COM]On Behalf
> Of Christopher M. Bergeron
> Sent: Monday, September 18, 2000 11:39 AM
> To: PEN-TEST () SECURITYFOCUS COM
> Subject: [PEN-TEST] First step of a pen-test
>
>
> What is the industry norm for _beginning_ a pen-test after the
> contract has been made?  Would one first map the network?  Try to
> war-dial the exchange for possible remote (pcanywhere, etc).
> access machines?  VRFY email addresses to look for user logins?
> Is it typical to ask for information about the network (ie.
> network architecture) beforehand or do most pen-tests start
> "blindly" and do the network reconnaissance.
>
> Thanks to anyone who addresses even one of my many questions.