It has been a while since the last post about Ansible network automation, and today let's change that. In this post, we are going to look at how to verify if a Cisco IOS-based device has a login banner and the correct one is set. Originally, I did not want to cover Ansible playbooks that a Network Configuration Management (NCM) software can perform. However, since there are a lot of organizations that do not have NCM, I figured I should include it anyway in case folks are interested in …
Blog
Passed GPEN
Yesterday, I passed the GPEN (GIAC Penetration Tester) certification exam, and I wanted to share my experience. If you follow me on social media, especially on Instagram, then you might have noticed that I have been on hiatus from taking certification. The last certification exam I took was the GMON (GIAC Continuous Monitoring). Exam information The exam has the following format: SEC560 class I attended SEC560 (Enterprise Penetration Testing) class during SANS Security West 2026, …
Ansible: Perform network availability check
In my previous post, we explored validating IP addresses and conducting network availability checks on a firewall. While these checks are valid, they don't provide a comprehensive view of the network’s overall status, especially in bigger networks. In this post, we'll explore a playbook that can be incorporated to perform network availability checks. However, this may not be valid in some environments where ICMP is not allowed. The Ansible playbook This Ansible playbook complements the …
[Read more...] about Ansible: Perform network availability check
Ansible: Accepting user input variables
In my previous Ansible-related posts, both playbooks showed that the user would have to provide variable names and their respective values using the -e or -extra-vars command option. While that works, the user would have to memorize the variable names. If the playbook requires calling multiple roles with variable names, then memorizing all those variable names can be a nightmare. To make it easier for the users, we can leverage vars_prompt. Today, we are exploring how to accept user input in …
[Read more...] about Ansible: Accepting user input variables
Command shell to Meterpreter
As I started learning more about CTF and pentesting, I started to wonder how I can turn a command shell into Meterpreter. Most of my experience almost always ended with just using a command shell to view something. Recently, I learned how to elevate from a command shell to a Meterpreter shell. Today, I'm going to demonstrate how to do that. Environment The environment is set up kinda like a CTF. That said, I am going to walk through steps from start to finish. That way, it also helps the …