Hello everyone,
I am trying to essentially set up a penetration-testing lab in a single machine. I've read guides on how to do this online, but I had a few questions that I didn't see answered in the guide so I thought I'd post them here.
I recently got my hands on an older Dell Optiplex Gx620. The specs are:
Memory: 2 GB
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz x 2
OS: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (32 bit)
HDD: 77.7 GB
Nothing cutting edge, but I paid next to nothing for it and I was hoping to set this machine up to act as a pen-test lab. I'm trying to teach myself some computer security concepts, as I hope to work one day in Information Security. This box is not a production machine, it is only being used for this purpose so I can maximize the resources for this project.
I am trying to set up Bactrack and use it to attack Windows XP SP2 (I have the install cd for windows). I am trying to figure out the best way to go about this. Most of the guides I read suggest setting up 2 virtual boxes and have one attack the other. The only issue I have with this is that I don't use VMs too often, so I'm wondering if it would be better to install BackTrack directly to the hard drive and attack a Windows XP VM that way. My other concern is that I don't want anything I am doing to bleed over to our wireless network - I currently have the desktop hooked up to a wireless usb stick that detects our wireless network. Can I just take out the wireless card and be safe knowing that everything will be contained on that single machine?
If someone could just give me a general idea as to how to go about this, I'd really appreciate it. I'm really excited to get started learning Backtrack, but I don't want to just go rushing in without an idea of what I am doing and inadvertently attack a production machine.
Also, if anyone has any resources for a beginner to BackTrack that they would suggest, I would certainly be appreciative!
Thanks everyone, I really appreciate your help and advice.
I am trying to essentially set up a penetration-testing lab in a single machine. I've read guides on how to do this online, but I had a few questions that I didn't see answered in the guide so I thought I'd post them here.
I recently got my hands on an older Dell Optiplex Gx620. The specs are:
Memory: 2 GB
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz x 2
OS: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (32 bit)
HDD: 77.7 GB
Nothing cutting edge, but I paid next to nothing for it and I was hoping to set this machine up to act as a pen-test lab. I'm trying to teach myself some computer security concepts, as I hope to work one day in Information Security. This box is not a production machine, it is only being used for this purpose so I can maximize the resources for this project.
I am trying to set up Bactrack and use it to attack Windows XP SP2 (I have the install cd for windows). I am trying to figure out the best way to go about this. Most of the guides I read suggest setting up 2 virtual boxes and have one attack the other. The only issue I have with this is that I don't use VMs too often, so I'm wondering if it would be better to install BackTrack directly to the hard drive and attack a Windows XP VM that way. My other concern is that I don't want anything I am doing to bleed over to our wireless network - I currently have the desktop hooked up to a wireless usb stick that detects our wireless network. Can I just take out the wireless card and be safe knowing that everything will be contained on that single machine?
If someone could just give me a general idea as to how to go about this, I'd really appreciate it. I'm really excited to get started learning Backtrack, but I don't want to just go rushing in without an idea of what I am doing and inadvertently attack a production machine.
Also, if anyone has any resources for a beginner to BackTrack that they would suggest, I would certainly be appreciative!
Thanks everyone, I really appreciate your help and advice.
