Metasploit isn’t just a tool; it’s an entire framework that provides the infrastructure needed to automate mundane, routine, and complex tasks. This allows you to concentrate on the unique or specialized aspects of penetration testing and on identifying flaws within your information security program.
As you progress through the chapters in this book and establish a well-rounded methodology, you will begin to see the many ways in which Metasploit can be used in your penetration tests. Metasploit allows you to easily build attack vectors to augment its exploits, payloads, encoders, and more in order to create and execute more advanced attacks. At various points in this book we explain several third-party tools—including some written by the authors of this book—that build on the Metasploit Framework. Our goal is to get you comfortable with the Framework, show you some advanced attacks, and ensure that you can apply these techniques responsibly. We hope you enjoy reading this book as much as we enjoyed creating it. Let the fun and games begin.