TN-963: Windows Security Automation with PowerShell

Course Overview:

PowerShell is made for Security Operations (SecOps) automation on Windows. SecOps requires automation in order to scale out security changes and monitoring beyond a handful of hosts. For example, when a vulnerability must be remediated but there is no patch for it yet, automation is needed to quickly and consistently enact the changes necessary. PowerShell “remoting” is encrypted remote command execution of PowerShell scripts in a way that can scale to thousands of endpoints and servers.

Imagine being able to hunt for indicators of compromise across thousands of machines with just a few lines of PowerShell code. Or imagine having the local Administrator account password reset every night on thousands of endpoints in a secure way, and being able to retrieve that password securely too.

We will show you to do these tasks and more. Transcription logging for forensics, strong encryption code signing, application whitelisting of scripts, IPSec port control, and Just Enough Admin (JEA).

As more and more of our systems are moved up to the cloud, PowerShell will become even more important. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Office 365, Hyper-V and VMware already support PowerShell administration for many tasks.

Attendees to TN-963: Windows Security Automation with PowerShell will receive TechNow approved course materials and expert instruction.

Date/Locations:

No Events

Duration: 3 days

Course Objectives:

Day One
PowerShell Overview and Tips

- Getting started running commands
- Using and updating the built-in help
- Execution policies
- Fun tricks with the ISE graphical editor
- Piping .NET and COM objects, not text
- Using properties and methods of objects
- Helping Linux admins feel more at home
- Aliases, cmdlets, functions, modules, etc.
- Customizing your profile script

What Can We Do With PowerShell

- PowerShell remote command execution
- Fan-out remoting and security
- File copy via PowerShell remoting
- Capturing the output of commands
- Parsing text files and logs with regex patterns
- Searching remote event logs faster with XPath
- Mounting the registry as a drive
- Exporting data to CSV, HTML and JSON files
- Parsing and mining nmap port scanner XML output
- Running scripts as scheduled jobs
- Pushing out scripts through Group Policy
- Importing modules and dot-sourcing functions
- http://www.PowerShellGallery.com

Write your own scripts

- Writing your own functions
- Passing arguments into your scripts
- Function parameters and returning output
- Flow control: if-then, do-while, foreach, switch
- The .NET Framework class library: a playground
- How to pipe data in/out of your scripts

Day Two
Continuous Secure Configuration Enforcement

- How to use Group Policy and PowerShell together
- Automate with INF security templates
- How to customize INF templates
- Microsoft Security Compliance Manager (SCM)
- SECEDIT.EXE scripting
- Building an in-house security repository for SecOps/DevOps
- NSA’s Secure Host Baseline GPOs

Group Policy Precision Targeting

- Managing Group Policy Objects (GPOs) with PowerShell
- LSDOU, Block Inheritance, Enforced GPOs
- Group Policy permissions for targeting changes
- ADMX templates for mass registry editing
- Deploying PowerShell startup and logon scripts
- WMI item-level targeting of GPO preferences
- GPO scheduled tasks to run PowerShell scripts
- Remote command execution via GPO (not remoting)
- Empowering the Hunt Team to fight back!

Server Hardening for SecOps/DevOps

- Server Manager scripting with PowerShell
- Adding and removing roles and feature
- Remotely inventory roles, features, and apps
- Why Server Nano or Server Core
- Running PowerShell automatically after service failure
- Service account identities, passwords, and risks
- Tools to reset service account passwords securely

Day Three
PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC)

- DSC is Configuration Management built in for free
- Using DSC for continuous reinforcement of settings
- Writing your own DSC configuration scripts
- Free DSC resource modules: www.PowerShellGallery.com
- How to push DSC configurations to many targets
- DSC background job processing in push mode
- Examples: sync files, install roles, manage groups
- Auditing a remote target against a DSC MOF template
- “ApplyAndAutoCorrect” mode for continuous enforcement

PowerShell Just Enough Admin (JEA)

- JEA is Windows sudo, like on Linux
- JEA is Windows setuid root, like on Linux
- Restricting commands and arguments
- Verbose transcription logging
- How to set up and configure JEA
- Privilege Access Workstations (PAWs)

PowerShell and WMI

- Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) service
- What is WMI and why do hackers abuse it so much?
- Using PowerShell to query WMI CIM classes
- WMI authentication and traffic encryption
- Inventory operating system versions and installed software
- WMI remote command execution versus PowerShell remoting
- PowerShell security best practices
- PowerShell transcription logging to catch hackers

Prerequisites:

GSEC or equivalent experience
UNIX, Windows, Networking, and Security Experience
This is a hands-on skill course requiring comfort with command line interaction and network communications

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CT-425: CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP+)

Course Overview:

This course will cover topics to ensure that students have the technical knowledge and skills required to conceptualize, design, and engineer secure solutions across complex enterprise environments. Students will be able to apply critical thinking and judgement across a broad spectrum of security disciplines to propose and implement solutions that map to enterprise drivers. This course will prepare students for the objectives covered in the CompTIA CASP+ certification exam (CAS-004).

Attendees to CT-425: CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP+) will receive TechNow approved course materials and expert instruction.

Date/Locations:

Date/Time	Event
12/16/2024 - 12/20/2024 08:00 -16:00	CT-425: CASP+ TechNow, Inc, San Antonio TX

Duration: 5 days

Course Objectives:

Support IT governance in the enterprise with an emphasis on managing risk
Leverage collaboration tools and technology to support enterprise security
Use research and analysis to secure the enterprise
Integrate advanced authentication and authorization techniques
Implement cryptographic techniques
Implement security controls for hosts
Implement security controls for mobile devices
Implement network security
Implement security in the systems and software development lifecycle
Integrate hosts, storage, networks, applications, virtual environments, and cloud technologies in a secure enterprise architecture
Conduct security assessments
Respond to and recover from security incidents

Prerequisites:

Completion of the following or equivalent knowledge:

CompTIA Certification: A+ Essentials

CompTIA Certification: Security+

Comments

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User: clbrack

Instructor comments: I expect to pass, another great class from technow!

User: christopher0470

Instructor comments: Alan takes the time to cover the material so that you understand the concepts and applications of the information presented.

Facilities comments: I like the location. It was quiet and very conducive to learning.

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TN-855: Advanced and In-Depth ICD 503 RMF, Controls, and Assessments

Course Overview:

This course is very hands-on with respect to SP 800-53 controls as related to ICD-503, leveraging experience with DCD 6/3, and incorporating a broad array of technologies found in the field. Assessors and Auditors have to face many technologies that are not part of the main stream. TechNow has gone to great efforts to build a very broad, comprehensive, and complex lab to simulate many scenarios and architectures. Technologies such as a network appliance that is not a typical infrastructure product, a radio/satellite communications device, or many other technologies that build up a weapon system. Students learn how controls are integrated into many different devices and how they fit in the overall security architecture of monitoring, reporting, and compliance testing.

Directly discussed are overlays for different requirements i.e.: tactical, medical, network type: JWICS, SIPR; IC or AF. TechNow has developed a funnel concept to overlays to exemplify the encapsulation of a control within different requirements. TechNow has over 15 years experience in Trusted Solaris/Trusted Extensions and labeled security. Cross Domain overlays are presented that fits the work flow of an assesor. PII overlays and any overlays that an organization uses and can be made available are also presented.

This course allows the student to leverage years of experience in DoD DCD 6/34 for transition to the Risk Management Framework (RMF) applied to the Intelligence Community as mandated by ICD 503. Utilizing NIST SP 800-37 to establish a baseline of RMF knowledge, the student learns how to integrate the NIST pubs to provide cohesive information assurance architectures and compliance. ICD 503 scorecard evaluations are integral in demonstrating a successful ICD 503 compliance program. TechNow's ICD 503 course provides students with the skill to assess security programs and evaluate ICD 503 compliance to build an improvement and sustainable program for score consistency. TechNow's instructors have unparralleled expertise in federal compliance initiatives, and we bring this expertise instructing students on the complete life cycle of RMF.

More than a simple checklist, we instruct students not only how to validate essential security controls, programs, and metrics, but that they are operating effectively. The student leaves the course knowing how to: identify gaps where controls, programs, or metrics are incomplete, missing or ineffective, and provide actionable findings and recommend remediation strategies. Students learn to internalize NIST pubs to meaningul and effective IA guidelines and work with the Body of Evidence templates which include: Risk Assessment Report (RAR), Systems Security Plan (SSP), Security Assessment Report (SAR), and Plans of Action and Milestone (POAM).

TechNow training materials are aligned with the most recent set of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Committee on National Security Systems (CNSS), and Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) policies standards, processes, policies and instructions to be addressed/explained include ICD 503, ICS 503-1, ICS 500-16, ICS 500-18, ICS 500-27, ICD 502, NIST SP 800-37, NIST SP 800-30, NIST SP 800-53, NIST SP 800-53A, NIST SP 800-137, NIST SP 800-47, CNSSP 22, CNSSI 1253, and CNSSI 4009.

A majority of time is spent on in-depth compliance review of NIST SP 800-53 controls. Instruction discusses which method should be used to test and validate each security control and what evidence should be gathered. This course is not theory or death by power point. Real scenarios are presented as exercises. A complete live cyber range simulating the IC is utilized for hands-on labs for techniques of validating and documenting compliance of NIST SP 800-53 controls as related to ICD 503.

Date/Locations:

No Events

Duration: 5 days

Course Objectives:

Establish a baseline of RMF knowledge
Validate essential security controls, programs, and metrics
DoD DCD 6/3 to ICD 503 Transition
Lab Environtment and the Cyber Range
Overlays: Tactical, Medical, Network type(JWICS, SIPR; IC or AF), Cross Domain, PII
Risk Assessment Report (RAR)
Systems Security Plan (SSP)
Security Assessment Report (SAR)
Plans of Action and Milestone (POAM)

Prerequisites:

Experience in the field of auditing and assesments.

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TN-913: Cloud Security Fundamentals

Course Overview:

TechNow Cloud Security Fundamentals addresses the loss of hands-on control of system, application, and data security in the Cloud computing environment. Security teams wrestle with the impact and liability of Cloud computing on an organization. This course enables the security team to assist in contract language and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) when utilizing Cloud Service Providers (CSPs).

Compliance and auditing are introduced with strategies for control verification and audit analysis in the CSP environment. Software as a Service (SaaS) to Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and everything in between require a compliance strategy. Students will go in-depth into the architecture and infrastructure fundamentals for private, public, and hybrid clouds. Topics covered include: patch and configuration management, virtualization security, application security, and change management. Policy, risk assessment, and governance within cloud environments will be covered with recommendations for both internal policies and contract provisions to consider.

TechNow has worked worldwide enterprise infrastructures for over 20 years and has developed demos and labs to exemplify the techniques required to effectively manage security in the cloud environment.

Attendees to TN-913: Cloud Security Fundamentals will receive TechNow approved course materials and expert instruction.

Date/Locations:

No Events

Course Duration: 3 days

Course Objectives:

Cloud computing introduction
Security challenges in the cloud
Infrastructure security in the cloud
Policy, risk, and governance for cloud computing
Compliance and legal considerations
Audit and assessment for the cloud
Data security in the cloud
Identity and Access Management (IAM)
Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning (DR/BCP) in the cloud
Intrusion detection and incident response

Course Prerequisites:

GSEC, CISSP, CASP or equivalent experience in managing enterprise infrastructures
Managing or administering at least one of UNIX, Windows, Databases, networking, or security

Comments

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User: reedrobt

Instructor comments: Dave is like an encyclopedia of technical topics...what "doesn't" he have expertise in?

Facilities comments: Home2 location was well-kept and convenient to other services.

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TN-901: Linux for Security Professionals

Course Overview:

This course will be fast paced with in-depth and live demonstrations.

Date/Locations:

No Events

Duration: 1 day

Course Objectives:

AIDE
DNS Security with DNSsec
Logging and Audit Management
Linux Security Modules and SE-Linux
Linus Containers (Jailing Services and Apps)
SSH and SSL tunneling

Prerequisites:

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