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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PA-242: Palo Alto Networks Firewall Manage Cyberthreats (EDU-231)

  

 

Course Overview:  PA-242: Palo Alto Networks Firewall Manage Cyberthreats (EDU-231) Training Class is a two-day course that teaches students strategies in defense against cyberthreats.  Successful completion of this course enables administrators to better understand the threat landscape.  This is not a virtualized theoretical course.  This is hands-on, real world instruction, directly relevant to the DoD and Commercial implementations of Palo Alto Networks next-generation firewalls.

Each student is issued a physical Palo Alto firewall and a Cisco layer 3 switch at their desk.  Real hardware per student for real experience and real skill development.  TechNow provides a very comprehensive client infrastructure that includes Windows, Linux, and multiple packet sniffer agents.

The instructor for this course has been a lead in Unix kernel development to implement firewall and intrusion detection technologies.  Additionally, the instructor has taught several security appliance products and carries several SANS, ISC2, ISACA, Cisco, Unix, and Windows certifications.

Attendees to the PA-242: Palo Alto Networks Firewall Manaage Cyberthreats  (EDU-231) Training Course will receive TechNow approved course materials and expert instruction.

Dates/Locations: No Events

Duration: 2 days

Course Objectives:   Students attending this training course will gain an understanding of cyberthreats and their characteristics.  Students will learn how to manage cyberthreats using security policies, profiles, and signatures to protect their network against emerging threats.

Day 1

  • Mod 1: Threat Landscape
    • Advanced Persistent
    • Threats
    • Data Breaches and Tactics
    • Threat Management
    • Strategies
  • Mod 2: Integrated
    • Approach to Threat
    • Protection
    • Integrated Approach to
    • Protection
    • Next-Generation Firewall
    • Advanced Endpoint
    • Protection
  • Mod 3: Network Visibility
    • Zero Trust Model
    • SSL Decryption
    • Decryption Policy
  • Mod 4: Reducing the Attack
    • Surf
    • ection

 

Day 2

  • Mod 5: Handling Known
    • Threats
    • WildFire Analysis
    • Security Profiles
  • Mod 6: Handling Unknown
    • Traffic and Zero-Day Exploits
    • WildFire
    • Researching Threat Events
    • Identifying Unknown
    • Applications
  • Mod 7: Investigating
    • Breaches
    • Identify IOCs Using
    • App-Scope
    • Log Correlation
    • Finding Infected Host
  • Mod 8: Using Custom
    • Signatures
    • Creating Custom App-IDs
    • Threat Signatures

A

Prerequisites:

  • Students must complete the PA-213: Install, Configure, and Manage course
  • Understanding of network concepts, including routing, switching, and IP addressing
  • In-depth knowledge of port-based security and security technologies such as IPS, proxy, and content filtering

This course is in no way associated with Palo Alto Networks, Inc.

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TN-223: Advanced Shell Programming

 

Course Overview:

The course teaches students to use the sort, grep, sed, & awk utilities within Unix. Systems administrators, Unix users, & programmers benefit from the course showing them how to use the command line applications of sort, grep, sed, & awk commands as well as using sed & awk scripts that develop the users skills with the full power of these utilities.

Attendees to TN-223: Advanced Shell Programming will receive TechNow approved course materials and expert instruction.

Dates/Locations:

No Events

Duration: 3 Days

Course Objectives:

  • Sorting files by line or field
  • Regular Expressions (meta character) with grep commands to locate specific lines in files
  • Performing non-interactive editing tasks with the sed command
  • Writing simple sed scripts to perform complex editing tasks
  • Using awk variables & arrays to sort data
  • Employing awk programs to manipulate numeric & textual data
  • Performing formatted printing in awk
  • Writing simple awk programs to write reports from data files
  • Using built-in awk functions & defining new functions
  • Write awk programs that make decisions based on numeric or string comparisons (branches & loops)
  • Grep, egrep extended metacharacters, combinations-lab advanced combinations- lab Sed
  • Basic commands- Lab, Advanced commands- Lab, Advanced scripting -Lab
  • Miscellaneous commands Tr, sort, cut, paste, pr -Lab

Prerequisites:

  • TN-125: Introduction to UNIX & Linux
  • TN 215: Shell Programming.
  • Students should have a basic knowledge of UNIX commands including rm, cp, man, cat, & mkdir. Navigating directory structure using commands such as ls, cp, & pwd. Creating and editing files with the vi editor or text editor. Use of basic programming constructs, & commands such as variables & loops & how to write a simple program in a programming language.

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RH-355: RHCSA Rapid Track Course

Course Overview:

The RHCSA Rapid Track Course  is designed for experienced Linux® system administrators who want to expand their technical skill sets and become accredited with the Red Hat® Certified System Administration (RHCSA) certification. To successfully navigate this course, students should have experience with the Linux command line—including the necessary skills to execute common commands, such as cp, grep, sort, mkdir, tar, mkfs, ssh, and dnf—and be familiar with accessing man pages for help. At the completion of the course, students will be adequately prepared to take the RHCSA exam (EX200) .

Date/Locations:

No Events

Duration: 5 days

Course Objectives:

  • Introduce Linux and the Red Hat Enterprise Linux ecosystem.
  • Run commands and view shell environments.
  • Manage, organize, and secure files.
  • Manage users, groups and user security policies.
  • Control and monitor systemd services.
  • Configure remote access using the web console and SSH.
  • Configure network interfaces and settings.
  • Manage software using DNF
  • Access security files, file systems, and networks
  • Execute shell scripting and automation techniques
  • Manage storage devices, logical volumes, and file systems
  • Manage security and system access
  • Control the boot process and system services
  • Running containers

Prerequisites:

Experience in the field system administration.

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PM-224: PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® Prep Course

Course Overview:

This course is developed for those individuals seeking to pass the Project Management Institute’s PMI-ACP Exam. PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)® is one of the newest certifications offered by PMI and is expected to become the industry standard certification for agile over the next few years. The PMI-ACP® certification clearly illustrates to colleagues, organizations or even potential employers that students are ready and able to lead in this new age of product development, management, and delivery.

While preparing you for the exam, you will explore various approaches to agility including Scrum, Kanban, Lean, Extreme Programming (XP), and Test-Driven Development (TDD). By the end of the course, you’ll have mastered the practices and techniques that Agile practitioners use to improve team performance, resolve problems and engage in continuous process improvements and be equipped with job-ready skills.

This course provides students with 21 contact hours in agile practices to help attain the Project Management Institute (PMI)® credential.  PMI® and PMI-ACP® are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

Attendees to PM-224: PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP) Prep Course will receive TechNow approved course materials and expert instruction.

 

Dates/Locations:

No Events

Duration: 3 Days

Course Objectives:

  • Agile Principles and Mindset
  • Value-driven delivery
  • Stakeholder engagement
  • Team performance
  • Adaptive planning
  • Problem detection and Resolution
  • Continuous Improvement

Prerequisites:

  • Secondary degree
  • 21 contact hours of training in agile practices
  • 12 months of general project experience within the last 5 years. A current PMP® or PgMP® will satisfy this requirement but is not required to apply for the PMI-ACP
  • 8 months of agile project experience within the last 3 years

 

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