Full Report
Our next scheduled training sessions have been planned for November. If you’re interested in attending, the dates and locations are: 1) HBN Bootcamp Edition 7-9th November, BlackHat Abu Dhabi ‘Hacking By Numbers – Bootcamp Edition‘ is our ‘introduction to hacking’ course. It is strongly method-based and emphasizes structure, approach and thinking over tools and tricks. The course is popular with beginners, who gain their first view into the world of hacking, and experts, who appreciate the sound, structured approach.
Analysis Summary
The provided article describes scheduled cybersecurity training courses focused on "Hacking By Numbers" (HBN), emphasizing methodology, structure, and practical understanding of attack techniques for developers and general beginners/experts.
Since the article is primarily promotional material for training, specific configuration examples or detailed compliance guidelines are not present. Therefore, the recommendations derived will focus on **adopting a structured, methodology-based approach to security (as championed by the training) and enhancing developer security awareness.**
# Best Practices: Structured Security Methodology and Application Security Development
## Overview
These practices focus on implementing a formalized, methodical approach to understanding and mitigating cyber threats, moving beyond simple tool usage. This includes prioritizing structured learning for security teams and embedding application security (AppSec) knowledge directly into the development lifecycle.
## Key Recommendations
### Immediate Actions
1. **Audit Existing Training Effectiveness:** Immediately survey technical staff (especially developers) to assess their current understanding of core attack vectors and mitigation strategies, establishing a baseline metric.
2. **Mandate Methodology Review:** For any active security assessment or penetration test, require the team to document the *structure and approach* used (e.g., OWASP Testing Guide steps) rather than just listing tools executed.
### Short-term Improvements (1-3 months)
1. **Establish Core Developer Security Curriculum:** Define essential security training modules based on common web application attacks (as taught in the "Developer Edition") and mandate completion for all application development teams.
2. **Integrate Code Dissection Sessions:** Schedule recurring, short internal workshops where development teams review sample application code (either internal or training examples) specifically to "discover security-related bugs hidden within the code."
### Long-term Strategy (3+ months)
1. **Develop Structured Security Thinking (Experts/Analysts):** Implement continuous training focused on structured approaches ('Hacking By Numbers') for security analysts to ensure robust assessments that cover the 'why' and 'how' of attacks, not just known vulnerabilities.
2. **Implement Prevention, Detection, & Cure Protocol:** For every identified risk category (e.g., XSS, SQLi), formally document the organizational standards for prevention (coding practice), detection (monitoring/WAF rules), and cure (patching/removal process).
## Implementation Guidance
### For Small Organizations
- **Focus on Fundamentals:** Prioritize the "introduction to hacking" methodology training for key technical personnel to quickly build a foundational understanding of attacker mindset.
- **Adopt Peer Review for Security:** Implement mandatory peer code reviews where one reviewer is specifically tasked with checking for security-related errors before deployment.
### For Medium Organizations
- **Formalize Developer Training Pipeline:** Schedule and budget for the Developer Edition curriculum for rotating groups of developers to ensure widespread coverage.
- **Track Attack Coverage:** Maintain a matrix mapping known attack techniques against the applications they interact with, ensuring continuous coverage in testing cycles.
### For Large Enterprises
- **Establish Internal Training Cadre:** Identify personnel who complete intensive training (like the Extended Edition) and empower them to become internal subject matter experts responsible for disseminating structured security knowledge.
- **Integrate Security into SDLC Gates:** Enforce that security reviews focusing on *prevention* and *detection* cannot be signed off until the development team can articulate, "What am I up against?" for the features they deploy.
## Configuration Examples
*The source material does not provide technical configurations. The best analogous 'configuration' is the adoption of a highly structured procedural framework.*
**Procedural Configuration Example (Conceptual):**
1. **Step 1 (Methodology):** Define the required attack surface mapping step for any new feature implementation.
2. **Step 2 (Thinking):** Identify the top 3 expected attack techniques against this surface (e.g., based on OWASP Top 10 context for that component).
3. **Step 3 (Code Check):** Verify prevention techniques (e.g., input validation libraries) are correctly implemented in reviewed code.
## Compliance Alignment
While not directly addressed, training heavily focused on attack techniques and defenses inherently supports adherence to:
- **NIST SP 800-53 (CM & RA Controls):** By focusing on structured testing and robust application defensive knowledge.
- **ISO/IEC 27001 (A.14 Security in Application Development):** By ensuring security knowledge directly informs the development and maintenance of applications.
- **OWASP SAMM (Secure Software Development Lifecycle):** By emphasizing the integration of security knowledge throughout the entire development pipeline.
## Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- **Focusing Only on Tools:** Avoid the trap of believing security expertise is solely dependent on the latest vulnerability scanner; prioritize understanding the *methodology* behind repeatable exploitation.
- **Treating Security as Post-Deployment:** Never start considering detection and cure before prevention has been rigorously addressed in the design and coding phase.
- **Ignoring Development Context:** Do not rely solely on external teams for security; developers must understand attacker techniques to effectively code secure applications.
## Resources
- **Structured Learning Frameworks:** Utilize established security testing methodologies (e.g., OWASP Testing Guide) as the backbone for internal security analysis instead of ad-hoc testing.
- **Contact for Deep Dive Training:** [email protected] (For advanced, structured training content referenced in the article).