Week 5

 

This week, we moved beyond just identifying devices on a network and focused on enumeration — the process of actively extracting detailed information from systems. Enumeration is more invasive than basic scanning and reveals critical details that can be used in later stages of penetration testing.

What Is Enumeration?

Enumeration is about uncovering the “who” and “what” behind a system:

  • Usernames and groups

  • Shared folders and drives

  • Service banners and OS versions

  • Login history and known vulnerabilities

This detailed view gives ethical hackers the insights needed to plan further testing or attacks.

Focus on Windows Environments

We focused especially on Microsoft-based systems, where NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NBT) can leak a surprising amount of information — especially on older systems.

NetBIOS Tools Used:

  • nbtscan – Scans networks for NetBIOS data.

  • nbtstat – A built-in command that shows NetBIOS tables.

  • net view – Displays shared folders or devices.

  • net use – Attempts to connect to shared folders, sometimes without needing credentials.

These tools take advantage of legacy features, like null sessions, that still exist on some outdated Windows systems.

GUI Tools for Windows Enumeration

We also explored several advanced tools with graphical interfaces:

  • NetScanTools Pro – Visual mapping of NetBIOS data.

  • DumpSec – Extracts user permissions and shared resources.

  • Hyena – A full-featured Windows system management tool.

  • Nessus – A vulnerability scanner that identifies OS versions, misconfigurations, shared folders, and more.

These tools help generate comprehensive and professional reports.

Service Enumeration

In addition to system details, we looked at how to identify running services on a target, including:

  • Amap – For detecting application services.

  • Httprint & Httsquash – Fingerprint web servers.

  • Ike-scan – Scans VPN gateways using the IKE protocol.

This type of scanning is useful when service banners are hidden or altered to avoid detection.

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