ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors explain the research process and focus on more direct methods for gathering intelligence on targets. Thus, once the hacker has exhausted all indirect intelligence gathering methods, they will move on to more direct methods in order to obtain the information needed in order to penetrate the network or system. Basically, a hacker performing security research discovers a potential security vulnerability or exposure. The vulnerability information and, if applicable, a proof of concept exploit, is then submitted to a candidate naming authority, where they research the vulnerability and assign it a number if it checks out. Many of the vulnerabilities contain proof of concepts in the form of shell code. Shell code is a blanket term for a small amount code known as a “payload” to exploit a vulnerability, whether it be contained in scripts or higher-level language code that can be written in many different languages from Python, Perl, and Ruby, to C++.
