What is Post-Exploitation?

The phase of an attack where the attacker maintains access, escalates privileges, and explores the target system after a successful exploit.

Expanded Explanation

In ethical hacking, post-exploitation is used to assess how much damage an attacker could do after gaining access. Activities include credential harvesting, persistence mechanisms, data exfiltration, and lateral movement. It helps identify business risks beyond the initial breach.

Related Terms

Privilege Escalation, Lateral Movement, Persistence, Exfiltration, Reconnaissance

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