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Encrypt passwords on Cisco routers and switches

We have seen how to set passwords on cisco switches or routers here. Of course setting passwords does add to the security of the device but there is small problem. The password is stored in plain text.  Anyone who gets access to the switch can easily see all the passwords by typing command “show running-config or show startup-config”. Today we will see how to encrypt passwords on Cisco routers and switches.

Encrypting passwords can further enhance the security of the device. Privileged password can be encrypted by using the command “enable secret” instead of “enable password”. This command should be set from privileged global configuration mode.

Lets see what can we see  when we use the command “show running-config”.

We can see that the password we set has been encrypted. but what about other passwords. The  console, auxiliary and vty lines passwords cannot be encrypted even if we use “enable secret” command. To encrypt those passwords, we have to use another command “service password-encryption” as shown below.

This command will encrypt all the passwords stored in plain text on the device. Want to learn advanced practical hacking? Have a look at our Hacking Magazine. Just don’t trust our word. Download your FREE COPY using discount code fq47p4tq 

This is how you can encrypt passwords on Cisco routers and switches.

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How to configure passwords on Cisco routers and switches

Good evening friends, Today we will see how to configure passwords on Cisco routers and switches. Cisco devices have four types of passwords.

  • Console password : Used to set password for the console access.
  • Auxiliary password : It is used to set password to auxiliary port ( if the switch has one.)
  • VTY lines password : Used to set password for  for telnet and SSH access.
  • Privileged password : Used to set password for privileged access to the switch.

I am not going to show you how to set up auxiliary password here. Privileged mode of a Cisco device has some advanced IOS commands that can have disastrous consequences if used by wrong hands. So it is very important to set up a password to access privileged commands. Use the following commands

The “enable” command takes us into privileged mode. The “conf t” mode takes us into global configuration mode which pertains to the configuration settings of the whole switch. The “enable password”  sets a password for the privileged mode. ‘123456’ is the password. The “exit”  command takes us out of the privileged mode. To see if a password has been set for the privileged mode, try entering into privileged mode by typing “en” command. We can see that it prompts us for the password.

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How to configure armitage on Kali Linux

If you tried to start armitage on Kali Linux, it will show you the following error.

The error says that the service cannot connect to the database. Now let’s see how to configure armitage on Kali Linux. First, lets check if armitage is installed on our machine or not. Open terminal and type the command “apt-cache search armitage”. Then type the command “apt-get install armitage”. If everything is right, it tells you that armitage is already installed.

Now let’s rectify the database connection problem. Type the command “service postgresql start”. This will start our database service. Then start metasploit service by typing the command “service metasploit start”. 

Then type the command “armitage”. You should successfully see armitage working.

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How to hide an exe file in a Jpeg

I have been searching for a way to send an executable file to someone and make him to execute it. Sending the exe directly is not feasible. So let’s see how to hide an exe file in a jpeg and test its feasibility. First of all, create a new directory named test and download some images and name them similarly. I downloaded images of a popular Tollywood actress. The plan is to lure the victim into falling in the trap. I did this on a Windows 7 machine.

Go to “Folder Options”, go to “View tab”, deselect ‘ Hide extensions for known file types‘ and select option ‘Show hidden files, folders and drives‘. This will allow us to see the extensions of the files we are working with.

Open Notepad, type the following text and save it with the extension “.bat”. What the following code does is it creates a new user named “hacker” with password “abc123″ in the Windows machine this code gets executed.

Download BAT to EXE converter and convert the batch file we just created to an exe.

Rename the file “samy.exe” to  “samy_3.jpg”. Windows will prompt a warning. Ignore it.

Right click on the file “samy_3.jpg”, drag it a little and leave. Select ‘Create Shortcuts here’. We are creating a shortcut for the file samy_3.jpg.

Rename the shortcut to “samy_0.jpg”. Whatever the name you give make sure that the shortcut is clicked first and not the exe file.

Right click on “samy_0.jpg” and select Properties. In the “Start in” column delete the entire text. In the “Target:” column type “C:Windowssystem32cmd.exec samy_3.jpg.” This will run the file samy_3.jpg when clicked on the samy_0.jpg.

Click on “Change Icon” tab. Replace the text inside with “%SystemRoot%system32SHELL32.dll” and click on “OK”.

Compress all files into zip archive with the name “samy unseen.zip”. Remember that name should be attractive enough to lure the victim into clicking the images.

OK, package is ready. Now the bigger challenge is to send the package to the victim’s computer. I tried to mail the package to the victim but it didn’t work out.

 So I suggest you to find your own way of sending it to the victim. To test if the package will work on the victim’s system or not open “CMD” and type the command “net user” before executing the image. It will show us all the users on the system.

Then click on the image samy_0.jpg. Open “CMD” and type the “net user” command again.

A new user named hacker has been created. So the trick worked.

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Virtual pentesting lab : Step by Step guide

Virtual pentesting lab is a lab created on a single system using any virtualization software. It can be very helpful for people practicing for CEH or similar certification. Any penetration testing lab has two machines, attacker and victim. In this lab we will set up Kali Linux as the attacker and Windows XP( most favorite victim machine ) as the victim. I am going to set up this lab in Vmware Workstation 9. Hope this will be helpful.

First of all install Kali Linux and Windows XP in Vmware Workstation.

Shut them down. In the Vmware Workstation menu, Select “Edit” and click on Virtual Network editor.

The window below will open showing the virtual network adapters. Click on “Add network”.

Vmware provides nine virtual networks from 0 to 9. Vmnet0, Vmnet1 and Vmnet8 are automatically assigned for  bridged, Host-only and NAT types of network respectively. Select the network “Vmnet3″.

We can see that our network is added as Host-Type with a automatically assigned subnet IP.

Click on our network. We can see its settings below.

Deselect the option ‘Connect a host virtual adapter to the network’. This’. This‘.This will make our network a custom type. Change the subnet IP to 10.10.10.0( choice is yours).  Select the ‘Use local DHCP service to distribute IP address to VMs‘ option. This will automatically assign IP addresses to our machines. Click on ‘DHCP settings‘.

You will see the below window. Make changes if you like. I am going to leave it default. Click OK twice to exit.

We have successfully created our custom network. Now let’s add our machines to the network. Open the tab of Kali Linux and click on ‘network adapter‘ setting.

In the settings, select the ‘custom‘ radio button and select the network ‘Vmnet3 from the dropdown menu. Click on OK.

Do the same for Windows XP. Then let’s boot up our victim machine and check it’s IP address by typing ‘ipconfig‘ in the command line. The DHCP server has automatically assigned it the IP address 10.10.10.129.

Boot the attacker machine and check it’s IP address by typing ‘ifconfig’ in the terminal. It has been assigned the address 10.10.10.128.

Ping the victim IP machine (10.10.10.129) to see whether the two machines can communicate.

We have successfully created a virtual pentesting lab. Happy testing.