Scott Sutherland
Scott is currently responsible for the development, and execution of network penetration testing at NetSPI. His role includes researching and developing tools, techniques, and methodologies used during network and application penetration tests. Scott has been providing IT security services to medium sized to Fortune 50 companies for over 10 years. As an active participant in the information security community, Scott also contributes technical security blog posts, whitepapers, and presentations on a regular basis through NetSPI. Published presentations can be found here. Scott's most recent project is PowerUpSQL.
December 8th, 2014
Hacking SQL Server Stored Procedures – Part 2: User Impersonation
This blog provides a lab guide and attack walk-through that can be used to gain a better understanding of how the IMPERSONATE privilege can lead to privilege escalation in SQL Server.
November 10th, 2014
Hacking SQL Server Stored Procedures – Part 1: (un)Trustworthy Databases
In this blog I’ll show how database users commonly created for web applications can be used to escalate privileges in SQL Server when database ownership is poorly configured.
September 9th, 2014
15 Ways to Bypass the PowerShell Execution Policy
By default PowerShell is configured to prevent the execution of PowerShell scripts on Windows systems. This can be a hurdle for penetration testers, sysadmins, and developers, but it doesn’t have to be. In this blog I’ll cover 15 ways to bypass the PowerShell execution policy without having local administrator rights on the system. I’m sure there are many […]
May 28th, 2014
Locate and Attack Domain SQL Servers without Scanning
In this blog I’ll share a new PowerShell script that uses Service Principal Name (SPN) records from Active Directory to identify and attack SQL Servers on Windows domains without having to perform discovery scanning. I originally wrote this script to help escalate privileges and locate critical data during penetration tests. However, below I’ve tried to […]
April 28th, 2014
Decrypting IIS Passwords to Break Out of the DMZ: Part 2
In my last blog I showed how to use native Windows tools to break out of DMZ networks by decrypting database connection strings in IIS web.config files, and using them to pivot through SQL Servers. If you’re interested it can be found at Decrypting IIS Passwords to Break Out of the DMZ: Part 1. In […]
February 10th, 2014
Decrypting IIS Passwords to Break Out of the DMZ: Part 1
From the perspective of a penetration tester, it would be nice if every vulnerability provided a direct path to high-value systems on the internal network. However, the reality is that we aren’t always that lucky, and sometimes we land on an application server in the DMZ network first. In this blog I’ll cover how to use […]
January 6th, 2014
Faster Domain Escalation using LDAP
If you’re a penetration tester, then you probably already know that escalating from a local administrator to a Domain Admin only requires a few steps. Those steps typically involve stealing Domain Admin passwords, password hashes, or authentication tokens via various methods. However, if you aren’t lucky enough to have a Domain Admin logged into the […]
May 22nd, 2013
Breaking Out! of Applications Deployed via Terminal Services, Citrix, and Kiosks
In order to meet business requirements and client demand for remote access, many companies choose to deploy applications using Terminal Services, Citrix, and kiosk platforms. These platforms are commonly deployed in both internal networks as well as internet facing environments. In my experience, such application deployments are rarely locked down enough to prevent an attacker […]
March 11th, 2013
Resources for Aspiring Penetration Testers
At some point, all penetration testers get asked, “Where did you learn all this stuff?” In my experience, the question often comes from clients and students interested in pen testing. Usually, they’re asking because they aren’t sure where to start. There are a number of two- and four-year college programs that can provide a nice […]