---
description: >-
  Pivoting Methodology in cybersecurity with our expert insights. Learn the
  strategic approach hackers employ to navigate through networks, understand the
  stages involved, and discover effective defense
---

# Pivoting Methodology

1. **Initial Compromise:** The attacker gains access to an initial system within the target network, often through methods like phishing, exploiting vulnerabilities, or other means.
2. **Internal Reconnaissance:** Once inside, the attacker conducts reconnaissance to understand the network topology, identify potential targets, and gather information about security measures in place.
3. **Privilege Escalation:** If the initial compromise doesn't provide sufficient privileges, the attacker may seek ways to escalate their privileges on the compromised system to gain more control.
4. **Pivoting:** With the information gathered, the attacker identifies and exploits vulnerabilities on other systems within the network. This may involve using compromised systems as stepping stones to move laterally through the network.
5. **Maintaining Access:** The attacker aims to maintain persistent access to the compromised systems by deploying backdoors or other means, ensuring continued control even if initial points of entry are discovered and closed.
6. **Data Exfiltration:** Finally, the attacker may exfiltrate sensitive data from the compromised systems for malicious purposes.

### Pivoting Linux Tools

1. **Proxychains:** A tool that allows the user to force any TCP connection made by any given application to follow through a user-defined chain of proxy servers.
2. **SSHuttle:** A transparent VPN that forwards all TCP traffic through an SSH tunnel, providing a simple and efficient way to pivot through a compromised host.
3. **Chisel:** A fast TCP tunnel, designed to be used in combination with other penetration testing tools and allow pivoting through a compromised system.
4. **Iodine:** A tool for tunneling IPv4 data through a DNS server, useful for bypassing firewalls and accessing internal resources.
5. **socat:** A versatile relay tool that can be used to establish bidirectional data transfers between two independent data channels.
6. **PowerCat:** A PowerShell-based netcat replacement that supports encrypted communication and can be used for pivoting in Windows environments.
7. **Htunnel:** A tool that enables pivoting through HTTP(S) traffic, allowing for stealthy data exfiltration and command and control.
8. **Dnscat2:** A tool designed to create an encrypted command and control (C2) channel over the DNS protocol, useful for covert communication.
9. **Proxytunnel:** A program that connects stdin and stdout to an origin server somewhere in the Internet through an industry-standard HTTPS proxy.
10. **ProxyJump (SSH ProxyJump):** While not a tool itself, it's a configuration option in the OpenSSH client that simplifies the process of creating a multi-hop SSH connection.

### Windows Linux Tools

1. **PowerShell Empire:** A post-exploitation framework that utilizes PowerShell to control systems, escalate privileges, and perform lateral movement.
2. **Mimikatz:** Widely used for post-exploitation to extract plaintext passwords, hashes, and other credentials from memory.
3. **PsExec:** Part of the Sysinternals Suite, PsExec allows for the execution of processes on remote systems.
4. **PowerSploit:** A collection of Microsoft PowerShell modules that can aid in penetration testing and post-exploitation activities.
5. **Covenant:** A .NET command and control framework that allows attackers to execute commands on compromised Windows systems.
6. **Empire:** Similar to PowerShell Empire, Empire is a post-exploitation framework designed for Windows environments.
7. **BloodHound:** A tool for analyzing Active Directory security, often used for discovering and exploiting privilege escalation paths.
8. **CrackMapExec (CME):** A post-exploitation tool that automates assessing large Active Directory networks.
9. **WMIExec:** A tool that leverages Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to execute commands on remote systems.
10. **RDPWrap:** Allows multiple RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) sessions on a Windows system, facilitating remote access.
11. **Veil Framework:** A collection of tools for generating and delivering Metasploit payloads, including those for Windows environments.

