SEC467: Social Engineering for Security Professionals

SEC467 does not require existing penetration testing skills, but students who have those skills will be better able to apply the course material and enhance other penetration testing disciplines with their newly acquired knowledge.

Important! Bring your own system configured according to these instructions!

A properly configured system is required to fully participate in this course. If you do not carefully read and follow these instructions, you will likely leave the class unsatisfied because you will not be able to participate in hands-on exercises that are essential to this course. Therefore, we strongly urge you to arrive with a system meeting all the requirements specified for the course.

Some of the course exercises are based on Windows, while others focus on Linux. VMware Workstation is required for the class. If you plan to use a Macintosh, please make sure you bring VMware Fusion. Both Windows and Linux VMs are provided with the course, so you should not need to make any modifications to your host machine outside of installing VMware.

Host Operating System: Latest version of Windows 10, macOS 10.15.x or later, or Linux that also can install and run VMware virtualization products described below. Note: Apple systems using the M1 processor cannot perform the necessary virtualization at this time and cannot be used for this course.

System Hardware Requirements

Operating System: Windows, macOS, or Linux

Any operating system (Windows, macOS, or Linux) that can run VMware Workstation Player/Pro or VMware Fusion. Those who use a Linux host must be able to access the ExFAT partitions using the appropriate kernel or FUSE modules.

8 GB RAM Required

8 GB RAM is required for the best experience. To verify on Windows 10, press Windows key + I" to open Settings, then click System, then About. Your RAM information will be toward the bottom of the page. To verify on a Mac, click the Apple logo at the top left-hand corner of your display and then click About this Mac.

Hard Drive Free Space

60 GB of FREE space on the hard drive is critical to host the VMs and additional files we distribute. SSD drives are also highly recommended, as they allow virtual machines to run much faster than mechanical hard drives.

Headphones

You will need a pair of headphones to listen, in the classroom, to the audio and video provided with this course.

Additional Software Requirements

VMware

Install VMware Player 16.X.X+, VMware Fusion 12.X+, or VMware Workstation Pro 16.X.X+. Older Versions will not work for this course. Choose the version compatible with your host OS. If you do not own a licensed copy of VMware Workstation or Fusion, you can download a free 30-day trial copy from VMware. VMware will send you a time-limited serial number if you register for the trial at their Web site. VMware Workstation Player is a free download that does not need a commercial license but has fewer features than Workstation. THIS IS CRITICAL: Other virtualization products, such as Hyper-V and VirtualBox, are not supported and will not work with the course material.

Local Admin

Some of the tools used in the course will require local admin access. This is absolutely required. If your company will not permit this access for the duration of the course, then you should make arrangements to bring a different system.

Disable AV

You will be required to disable your anti-virus tools temporarily for some exercises, so make sure you have the anti-virus administrator permissions to do so. DO NOT plan on just killing your anti-virus service or processes, because most anti-virus tools still function even when their associated services and processes have been terminated. For many enterprise-managed clients, disabling your anti-virus tool may require a different password than the Administrator account password. Please bring that administrator password for your anti-virus tool.

If you have additional questions about the laptop specifications, please contact laptop_prep@sans.org.

"Social engineering has always been a critical part of the cyber criminals toolkit and has been at the core of innumerable attacks over the years. Organizations are taking significant interest in social engineering as a part of penetration testing, yet many penetration testers do not have social engineering skills in their attack toolkit. We are passionate about changing that and opening up a new set of attack possibilities. That being said, this is an area filled with ethical challenges, risks, and even legal landmines. So weve done our best to share our experiences in the course in a way that enables people to reap the benefits of our experiences without enduring the pitfalls we have dealt with over the years." - Dave Shackleford and James Leyte-Vidal