Welcome to Pluralsight. My name is Keith Watson,
and this is Metasploit: Getting Started.
We live in a time in which attackers have stolen significant amounts
of data and disrupted popular online services.
To combat these crimes,
organizations are seeking ways to identify weaknesses and to
validate the security of their information systems.
Penetration testing is one method used. Penetration testing requires
security professionals with a wide variety of technical skills and a
focus on puzzle solving and detective work.
Whether you're looking for a new career path or
simply want to gain some new skills,
this course will get you started in penetration testing
techniques using one of the main tools of penetration
testing, the Metasploit Framework.
As we learn more about the Metasploit Framework,
we will consider ourselves part of the newly formed Red Team at Globomantics, a
company that makes everything. As one of the newest members, our first task is
to assemble the penetration testing tools we will use and become familiar with
those tools through the provided training.
One of the first tools on the team's list is the Metasploit Framework.
The Metasploit Framework is a very advanced testing tool; however,
for this getting started course,
I will focus on the basics of the Metasploit Framework that'll allow
you to get started quickly. Before I dive straight into the framework,
we will spend a little time on understanding penetration testing and
the ethics and processes around it.
The Metasploit Framework was designed to have a continually
growing and expanding set of functionality over time. We will
spend some time looking at what it can do.
Each of the components in the architecture might be
needed at some point during your testing,
so understanding how it all ties together is important.
We will look at the various options for installing,
configuring, and using the Metasploit Framework.
We will look at how you prepare an attack through searching,
selecting, and configuring an exploit and its payload.
Then we'll launch that attack and review the results.
Finally,
we'll look at how to manage data within the Metasploit
framework. For this module in particular,
I'm going to talk about penetration testing processes and professional ethics.
It's important to talk about how and when to use tools
like the Metasploit Framework before we start using it. In
my mind, the reason is simple.
Metasploit can be used for good, as well as evil.
I will talk about ethics and codes of conduct that will be important in
guiding our use of tools for penetration testing.
We'll also look at the processes associated with penetration testing
through the Penetration Testing Execution Standard.
Then I'll provide some guidance on how best to use this course
in your learning. So, let's get started.