Kali Linux is the industry-standard operating system for penetration testing, red teaming, and security research. While Kali can be installed on a laptop or run inside a virtual machine, a bootable Kali Linux USB remains one of the most practical and powerful approaches for real-world security assessments.For internal VAPT, red teaming, and onsite assessments, carrying […]
In real-world penetration testing, red teaming, and internal security assessments, professionals frequently operate in environments where installing tools is restricted or outright blocked. Corporate endpoints, jump servers, and internal VDIs are often hardened with application control, endpoint detection, and strict privilege limitations. In such scenarios, relying on graphical browsers or third-party utilities is neither practical […]
In an ideal pentesting setup, installing tools is trivial cloning a GitHub repository, installing dependencies, resolving errors, and carry the activities. Security testers often, more increasingly now come across the below: In such environments, static or portable binaries become more than a convenience—they become a requirement. What Are Static / Portable Binaries? For testers static […]
Inside an enterprise network, the attack surface extends far beyond web servers and Active Directory. Switches, printers, scanners, remote administration tools, virtualization platforms, and legacy services often expose ports that are overlooked in traditional assessments.From a VAPT perspective, these services represent misconfigurations and exposure risks.From a Red Team perspective, they represent control points, stealthy footholds, […]
A Practical Approach for Banking, Internal, and Regulated Environments In an ideal world, a security tester would always be provided with a fully privileged testing machine, complete with the freedom to install any tool required for a thorough Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) exercise. However, real-world enterprise engagements sometimes doesn’t work this way. In […]
Modern Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) is no longer limited to heavyweight scanners and complex toolchains. A significant amount of reconnaissance, validation, and even exploitation can be performed directly from the browser using carefully chosen extensions. When used responsibly within scope, browser extensions can drastically improve testing efficiency, reduce blind spots, and complement traditional […]
Active Directory (AD) remains the backbone of identity, authentication, and authorization in most enterprise environments. Despite years of awareness around AD attacks—Kerberoasting, Pass-the-Hash, ACL abuse, delegation misconfigurations—many organizations still operate with legacy misconfigurations and excessive privileges that quietly expand their attack surface.This is where Purple Knight, a free Active Directory security assessment tool by Semperis, […]
Burp Suite has become the de facto toolkit for security professionals assessing web applications. While the core product is powerful on its own, its real strength lies in its extensibility. The Burp BApp Store offers hundreds of custom extensions written in Java, Python (via Jython), and Ruby empowering testers to automate tasks, discover hidden vulnerabilities, […]