We would like to thank a number of people, beginning with the folks whose hard work provides the community with an invaluable tool. Special thanks to the Metasploit Team: HD Moore, James Lee, David D. Rude II, Tod Beardsley, Jonathan Cran, Stephen Fewer, Joshua Drake, Mario Ceballos, Ramon Valle,
Patrick Webster, Efrain Torres, Alexandre Maloteaux, Wei Chen, Steve Tornio, Nathan Keltner, Chris Gates, Carlos Perez, Matt Weeks, and Raphael Mudge. Also an extra thanks to Carlos Perez for his assistance in writing portions of the Meterpreter scripting chapter.
Many thanks to Scott White, technical reviewer for this book, for being awesome.
Thanks to Offensive-Security for bringing us all together. The Offensive-Security trademark phrase “Try Harder” alternately inspires and tortures us (ryujin is evil).
We have many other members of the information security community to thank, but there are too many to list and the odds of missing someone are high. So thank you to our friends in the security community; hugs from all of us.
A very special thanks to the whole crew at No Starch Press for their immeasurable effort. Bill, Alison, Travis, and Tyler, it has been a pleasure working with you and everyone else behind the scenes at No Starch Press!
Finally, a big thank you to our families. We are all married and half of us have children. We spend far too long wearing down the plastic on our keyboards and not enough time with them. To our families, thanks for your understanding; we will make it up to you—as soon as we update this next line of code, or find the source of this memory corruption, or finish this svn update, or get this next fuzzer run setup, or . . .
Dave (Twitter: @dave_rel1k): I dedicate my work on this book to my loving wife Erin, who tolerated late nights of me hammering away at the keyboard. To my three children who keep me young and old at the same time. To my father, Jim; my mother, Janna; and my stepmother, Deb, for being there for me and making me what I am today. Thanks to Jim, Dookie, and Muts for their hard work on the book and for being great friends! To my good friends at Offensive-Security; Chris “Logan” Hadnagy; my brother, Shawn Sullivan; and my team at Diebold. To my good friend HD Moore, whose dedication to the security industry is an inspiration to us all. To all my friends in life, and to Scott Angelo for giving me an opportunity and believing in me. Lastly, to God, without whom none of this would be possible.
Devon (@dookie2000ca): For my beautiful and tolerant wife, who not only supports but encourages my mania. You are my inspiration and motivation; without you by my side in these pursuits, I would never get anywhere. To my co-authors, thank you for having faith in a newcomer and welcoming me as one of your own. Lastly, an especially big thank you to Mati for not only getting this merry band together but for giving me a chance.
Muts (@backtracklinux): A special thanks to the co-authors of this book, whose time and dedication to it is truly inspiring. I count Jim, Devon, and Dave as great friends and colleagues in the security field.
Jim (@_Elwood_): Thanks to Matteo, Chris “Logan,” and the entire Offensive-Security crew. Also a big thanks to Robert, Matt, Chris, and my co-workers at StrikeForce. And to my wonderful wife Melissa: The book you hold in your hands is proof that I was not just avoiding housework all the time. And to Jake and Joe, please don’t tell Mom that I am just playing games with you when I tell her I am working. You three are the Pack-a-Punch to my life. And finally to my co-authors Mati, Devon, and Dave: Thanks for letting me put my name on this book—I really was just avoiding housework.