Penetration Testing (Expanding Capability)¶

Current status: Active training & lab expansion¶

I'm actively building offensive security skills to complement my GRC engineering expertise. This creates a "purple team" perspective: understanding how attackers think makes me better at designing controls, validating security posture, and speaking the language of security operations teams.

Timeline: - Active lab: Operational with DVWA, Metasploitable, Security Onion integration - Certifications: CySA+ scheduled Jan 2026, PenTest+ scheduled Jan 2026 - Hardware toolkit: Assembled and testing (see below) - Focus: Lab-only practice, ethical methodology, clear documentation

🛠️ Hardware toolkit¶

Comprehensive offensive security toolkit for wireless, RF, and physical security testing:

Why this toolkit matters for GRC: - Control validation: Can test whether implemented controls actually work (not just documented) - Threat modeling: Understand realistic attack vectors for risk assessment - Security architecture: Design defenses based on actual offensive techniques - Wireless security: Rare niche expertise (RF/wireless pentesting skills are uncommon)

💻 Lab environment¶

Current setup: - Proxmox VE homelab with isolated VLANs for attack/target segregation - Kali Purple — Defensive security platform integrating purple team tools (combines offensive + defensive capabilities with pre-configured SIEM, IDS/IPS, threat hunting tools) - Kali Linux — Primary offensive attack platform with full toolset - DVWA (Damn Vulnerable Web Application) — Web exploitation practice - Metasploitable 2 & 3 — Intentionally vulnerable Linux targets - Security Onion — Defensive monitoring to see attacks from blue team perspective - Windows Server — Active Directory attack/defense scenarios - Network segmentation — Proper isolation, no WAN exposure

Lab-only practice: - All testing conducted in controlled, isolated environment - No unauthorized access, no production systems - Ethical methodology, clear documentation - "Purple team" approach: understand offense to strengthen defense

🔧 Software toolkit¶

Reconnaissance: - Nmap, Nessus, OpenVAS - Nikto, Gobuster, Dirb - Recon-ng, theHarvester - Shodan, Censys

Exploitation: - Metasploit Framework - SQLmap, XSStrike - Burp Suite Pro - Hydra, John the Ripper - Hashcat, CrackStation

Wireless & RF: - Aircrack-ng suite - Kismet - Wireshark with wireless dissectors - GNU Radio (SDR processing) - Universal Radio Hacker - inspectrum, gqrx - Meshtastic firmware/CLI tools

Post-exploitation: - Mimikatz, BloodHound - PowerSploit, Empire - CrackMapExec - Impacket

Physical security: - BadUSB payloads (Rubber Ducky) - Flipper Zero firmware/scripts - RFID/NFC analysis tools - HID attack frameworks

📚 Methodology & approach¶

Penetration testing process: 1. Reconnaissance — Information gathering, enumeration, attack surface mapping 2. Vulnerability assessment — Identify weaknesses (automated + manual) 3. Exploitation — Controlled exploitation in lab environment 4. Privilege escalation — Demonstrate impact of successful compromise 5. Documentation — Clear, technical writeups with remediation guidance 6. Defensive perspective — What controls would have prevented this?

Purple team mindset: - Every attack teaches defensive controls (GRC-relevant) - Document both exploit AND mitigation - Understand attacker TTPs for threat modeling - Validate security controls through offensive testing

🎯 Current focus areas¶

Web application security: - OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities - SQL injection, XSS, CSRF - Authentication/session management flaws - Business logic vulnerabilities

Network penetration testing: - Service enumeration and exploitation - Lateral movement techniques - Credential harvesting - Active Directory attacks

Wireless security: - Rogue access point detection - WPA/WPA2/WPA3 attacks (lab-only) - Bluetooth/BLE vulnerabilities - RF signal analysis and replay attacks - LoRa/Meshtastic mesh network security research

Physical security: - USB HID attacks (Rubber Ducky, Flipper Zero) - RFID/NFC cloning and relay attacks - Badge cloning for access control testing - Social engineering awareness (documentation focus)

📖 Training & certifications¶

Scheduled (Jan 2026): - CompTIA CySA+ — Cybersecurity Analyst (threat detection, blue team focus) - CompTIA PenTest+ — Penetration testing methodologies and hands-on skills

Current practice: - TryHackMe, HackTheBox labs - Metasploitable exploitation exercises - DVWA challenge progression - Wireless security research (TraceLock™ integration)

Goal: Combine GRC engineering (policy, controls, compliance) with offensive security knowledge (validation, threat modeling, purple team perspective) for senior-level security engineering roles.

🔐 Ethics & responsible disclosure¶

Lab-only commitment: - All testing conducted in isolated, controlled environment - No unauthorized access to production systems - No real-world attacks, no malicious intent - Follow responsible disclosure if vulnerabilities discovered in OSS - Ethical methodology aligned with industry standards (PTES, OWASP)

Why this matters: GRC roles increasingly require understanding of offensive security to properly assess risk, validate controls, and communicate with security operations teams. This isn't about becoming a full-time pentester — it's about being a more effective GRC engineer who can speak both languages.

🚀 Integration with GRC work¶

How pentesting skills enhance GRC engineering:

1. Control validation: - Can actually test whether implemented controls work - Validate compensating controls with hands-on verification - Identify control gaps through offensive perspective

2. Threat modeling: - Understand realistic attack paths for risk assessment - Map attacker TTPs to framework controls (MITRE ATT&CK → NIST CSF) - Prioritize control implementation based on actual exploitability

3. Security architecture: - Design defenses based on offensive techniques, not theory - Recommend controls that address real attack vectors - Validate defense-in-depth strategies through testing

4. Audit & compliance: - Demonstrate to auditors that controls prevent actual attacks - Provide evidence of security posture through controlled testing - Speak credibly about technical implementation during audits

5. Purple team perspective: - Bridge GRC (governance) and SecOps (operations) - Translate offensive findings into compliance language - Design controls that satisfy both auditors and security teams

📊 Proof points (when certification complete)¶

Future additions after CySA+/PenTest+ completion: - Lab writeups with exploit → remediation documentation - Control validation reports (tested vs. theoretical) - Purple team case studies (attack + defense perspectives) - Hardware toolkit use cases (RFID testing, HID validation, wireless audits)

🔗 Related projects¶

• TraceLock™ RF/SDR Security — Wireless telemetry detection (offensive research applied to defensive monitoring)
• Detection & IR Lab — SIEM tuning, alert engineering (blue team perspective)
• Homelab Infrastructure — Segmented testing environment with proper isolation
• Vulnerability Assessment — Nessus scanning, remediation tracking

Status: Expanding capability with active lab, hardware toolkit, and scheduled certifications (Jan 2026). Goal: Combine GRC engineering expertise with offensive security knowledge for senior-level security roles.

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