SEC673: Advanced Information Security Automation with Python

Overview

The first course section jumps straight into pyWars. SEC573 alumni will quickly learn the new features and how they will be used in SEC673, while veteran coders who come straight to this course will be introduced to this amazing learning platform. You'll learn how developers use unit tests to evaluate their programs during the development process and prevent small changes in core function from having cascading affects in your applications. We'll deep dive into the Python package structure, and you'll learn how setup.py can be used to build a deployable package and how to handle common structural errors such as circular references.

Topics

• Virtual Environment
• Using an IDE
• Unit Testing
• Building Packages
• PIP Installable Package
• Understanding Package Imports
• Absolute vs. Relative Imports
• Circular References

Overview

This course section will teach you to develop custom Python objects and data structures to support the needs of modern cybersecurity projects. We will build a model cybersecurity project called the Security Professionals Friend 100 (SPF100) that incorporates features found in popular cybersecurity packages such as Scapy and Volatility. You'll see how the right data structure can make your applications much easier to use and speed the development process. The section starts with a discussion on argument packing, unpacking, and how to pass arguments on to other functions. That discussion will set you up for success when we move into the principles of object-oriented coding and object inheritance, followed by a comprehensive discussion on object classes, scope, and inheritance that focuses on the real-world application of objects in modern Python projects. You'll learn to take advantage of existing data structure and extend build in object types like lists, integers, and dictionaries. Imagine having a data structure perfectly suited for your application, and then building it! Your code will be much cleaner and easier to support. You will learn how the magic dunder methods work and when to modify them in your programs. Finally, you'll learn how to use slicing in your own data types so you can pull the data you want from them.

Topics

• Argument Packing
• Objects
• Inheritance Super
• Inheriting and Extending Built-in Objects
• The Magic Dunders
• Slicing

Overview

In this section we continue adding new features to SPF100 that make Python objects more versatile. You'll learn how to customize the behavior of objects when accessing their attributes, and how to resolve attribute naming conflicts by using name mangling. We will discuss attribute privacy, the security pitfalls associated with any developer trying to protect object attributes, and how to exploit them. This section will provide you with a firm understanding of how to perform error handling in your projects. We'll complete the session by adding custom iterators to our project that can process network packets in interesting ways.

Topics

• Attribute Access
• Executable Attributes
• Name Mangling
• Attribute Privacy
• Object Comparison Operations
• Advanced Exception Handling
• Object Iteration
• Object Instantiation

Overview

Knowing how to code is only part of the battle. When it comes to solving real-world cybersecurity problems, a bit more is required. Show us an information security professional who doesn't hate working with timestamps and time zones and we'll show you an information security professional who has never had to deal with timestamps and time zones. In this course section you will learn how to properly process and handle timestamps and solve problems that require knowledge of multiple time zones. You will learn how and when to use multi-processing and multi-threading to spread out the load and handle large amounts of data. We will continue to build on SPF100 and leverage Python features such as context managers in order to make the package as user-friendly as it is in other popular cybersecurity projects.

Topics

• Dataclasses and NamedTuples
• Timestamps and Time Zones
• Concurrency
• Multi-threading
• Multi-processing
• Serialization Attack and Mitigation
• Context Managers

Overview

This course section will examine some of the most common struggles developers face when designing cyber tools. We will discuss how to automate command line tools that require interaction. This goes far beyond just running the program and capturing the output. We will talk about the ability to fully automate and interact with any command line. Next, we will add the ability to generate logs. You'll learn how to control the logs for other modules and configure applications so that you are alerted when critical events take place. We'll show you how you can use decorators to quickly add functionality to existing code with minimal changes to those programs. You will learn how to develop your own powerful decorators to improve any code base. We'll wrap up our discussion with a look at more security vulnerabilities that affect the Python interpreter and commonly used functions.

Topics

• CLI Tool Automation
• Logging
• Decorators
• Python Attacks

Overview

In this capstone event, you will apply the skills you have mastered and the code you have developed throughout the course in a series of programming challenges. You will exploit vulnerable systems, built custom objects, decorators, and most of the other skills you have learned over the week.