How to Hack Like a Ghost: Breaching the Cloud

by Sparc Flow

How to Hack Like a Ghost takes you deep inside the mind of a hacker as you carry out a fictionalized attack against a tech company, teaching cutting-edge hacking techniques along the way.

Go deep into the mind of a master hacker as he breaks into a hostile, cloud-based security environment. Sparc Flow invites you to shadow him every step of the way, from recon to infiltration, as you hack a shady, data-driven political consulting firm. While the target is fictional, the corporation’s vulnerabilities are based on real-life weaknesses in today’s advanced cybersecurity defense systems. You’ll experience all the thrills, frustrations, dead-ends, and eureka moments of his mission first-hand, while picking up practical, cutting-edge techniques for penetrating cloud technologies.

There are no do-overs for hackers, so your training starts with basic OpSec procedures, using an ephemeral OS, Tor, bouncing servers, and detailed code to build an anonymous, replaceable hacking infrastructure guaranteed to avoid detection. From there, you’ll examine some effective recon techniques, develop tools from scratch, and deconstruct low-level features in common systems to gain access to the target. Spark Flow’s clever insights, witty reasoning, and stealth maneuvers teach you how to think on your toes and adapt his skills to your own hacking tasks.

You'll
• How to set up and use an array of disposable machines that can renew in a matter of seconds to change your internet footprint
• How to do effective recon, like harvesting hidden domains and taking advantage of DevOps automation systems to trawl for credentials
• How to look inside and gain access to AWS’s storage systems
• How cloud security systems like Kubernetes work, and how to hack them
• Dynamic techniques for escalating privileges

Packed with interesting tricks, ingenious tips, and links to external resources, this fast-paced, hands-on guide to penetrating modern cloud systems will help hackers of all stripes succeed on their next adventure.

Genres: Hackers, Technology, Programming, Technical

236 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 11, 2021

About the author

Sparc Flow is a computer security expert.
He specializes in ethical hacking and has presented his research at international security conferences like Black Hat, DEF CON, Hack In The Box,...

While his day job consists mainly of hacking companies and showing them how to fix their security vulnerabilities, his passion is writing and sharing the insight he gained in the security field

His first book "How to Hack Like a Pornstar" captures the essence of multiple situations he faced in real life and offers the reader a peak into the world of hacking and pentesting

Reviews

[Michael Milewski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was quite an insightful read on the state of hacking and penetrating the security of modern software companies circa 2021, particularly based in Amazon AWS Cloud and associated products and Google's Workspaces. As a software engineer, I honestly did not think that so many of our cloud tools were as vulnerable to intrusion as described in the book. I liked how the book took a story approach to a "mock security penetration engagement". This leads the reader on a likely journey and how each part of that journey may hit dead ends, how to deal with these and tie in one intrusion with the next vulnerability exploit.

The story also had a good hands-on approach to the likely scripts that need to be run as well as a lot of references to further reading, video tutorials as well as the book Github repo. That said there were a number of times I was lost as to which layers of the hacking platform were in play at what time. Maybe a few more diagrams to explain exactly what is accessed where may help guide the reader. Reading it on a kindle made it hard to take in all the code examples beyond a cursory glance.

I will definitely need to re-read parts and follow up on external references, especially around things directly connected to the systems I am currently building to better understand their limitations and how they may be abused, so as to make them more resiliant.

[Karen K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am thrilled to share my experience with Linux Cyber Security Company, a truly outstanding firm that specializes in the recovery of hacked social media accounts. As a victim of a malicious hack that targeted my Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook profiles, I was left feeling helpless and exposed. However, upon reaching out to Linux Cyber Security Company, my perspective shifted entirely. Trust this company to get back your losses their reliable Team.

[Damien Vermaas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very realistic book about hacking. If you're interested in hacking and want to follow the process, the methodology from A-Z, this is the book for you. It not only goes into detail about the actual hacking steps but also the surrounding factors such as setting up a proper C2 infrastructure, staying anonymous and being untraceable. Definitely one of the better books about hacking I've read so far!

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a deeply technical read but a very fun and enjoyable overview of modern C2 infrastructure and how to gain a foothold in an AWS environment. Won't teach you cloud pen testing on its own, but it could open your mind to vectors you weren't aware of as a jumping off point for deeper study.

[esidate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written with tons of interesting information

[Sebastian Chmielewski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good introduction to hacking cloud applications, I liked the scenario.

[Roger Collingwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives a lot to think about if your using AWS. Insightful.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So entertaining I read my way through it in a few days.

Well thought out. With practical examples of mindset and approach to investigating and leveraging your way into cloud based environments (in this case AWS), some of the approaches used definitely made me think.

A fun and interesting read.