Step-by-step walkthroughs for the tools you'll use in live labs and on the job — Nmap, Wireshark, Metasploit, Burp Suite, and more. No fluff, just commands.
Install Nmap, run your first host discovery scan, interpret open ports and service versions, and understand what an attacker sees when they scan your network.
Set up a capture, apply display filters to isolate HTTP, DNS, and TCP streams, and reconstruct a credentials exchange from a packet capture — the same technique used in network forensics.
Launch msfconsole, search for and configure exploits, set payloads, open a Meterpreter shell on a vulnerable target, and perform post-exploitation enumeration — safely, on Metasploitable 2.
Configure the proxy, intercept and modify HTTP requests, use Repeater to test for SQLi and XSS, and run an active scan against a deliberately vulnerable DVWA target.
Identify hash types, run dictionary attacks with rockyou.txt, use rules to extend coverage, and understand why MD5 and NTLM hashes are trivially crackable — with timing benchmarks from real hardware.
Breaking down all 20 modules, identifying the highest-yield exam topics, building a 60-day study schedule, and using the EC-Council iLabs effectively — from someone who has written the exam.