Penetration Testing with Kali Linux
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3.
The Challenge Labs
4.
Proving Grounds
The training materials themselves will always trend toward focusing on scenarios that we can
follow along with. There are times when we need to discuss a bit
of theory so that we have
enough background to go deeper, but in general, if the material can demonstrate working through
a problem, then the expectation is that the student should be able to follow along. Often a
virtual
machine
(VM) is specifically built in order to accommodate this.
The
Module Exercises
themselves will often involve working with a VM as well. This is the
approach as often as is reasonably possible, but with some Modules (this one, for example) that
are more theoretical, exercises are presented in a more standard question-and-answer format.
The OffSec
Library also contains
Challenge Labs
, which take the exercises one step further. A
Challenge Lab is, essentially, an environment of additional practice exercises specifically created
to help learners prepare for an exam (which, perhaps as expected, is also hands-on). We highly
recommend that students take advantage of this additional opportunity.
Finally, we leverage assessments and exams. These are exercises and networked lab
environments specifically for proving the skills we’ve learned. Since a real world environment will
not give us a clear indication for which vulnerabilities
might be present on a system, we don’t
create a 1:1 link between a course module and an assessment (for example, we don’t advertise
whether or not a machine is vulnerable to privilege escalation).
With this in mind, the skills and methods students will learn in the courses are directly applicable
in the assessment and exam environments.
4.3.3
Facing Difficulty
There is a common expression that “practice makes perfect”. That may be true, but it begs the
question, what makes for ideal practice?
Let’s consider the following experiment that was performed in 1978.
152
A group of 8-year-old
children were divided into two groups to practice a simple task: toss a small bean bag into a
target hole. After being introduced to the task with the target at a distance of three feet (about 90
cm), the groups spent the next three months practicing. One group kept practicing with the target
at the same distance. The other aimed at a pair of targets - practicing with distances of both two
feet (60 cm) and four feet (120 cm).
In the final test, the task was to toss the bean bags to a target three feet away. The group who
had spent all of their practicing at that exact distance was in fact bested by the group who had
practiced at two and four feet.
This and other studies demonstrate that struggle is not only important to the learning experience,
but it’s actually more important than mere repetition for creating the neural pathways that help us
learn new skills.
152
(Kerr and Booth, 1978), https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/662537/
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This necessity for struggle means that we won’t do much exact repetition in the OffSec learning
materials. Since learning is self-directed, students seeking more repetition can return to specific
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