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 The most likely next step for the penetration tester is to scan the equipment and verify the findings, which is a process of using tools or techniques to probe or test the target equipment for vulnerabilities or weaknesses that can be exploited. Scanning and verifying the findings can help the penetration tester confirm that the models of equipment purchased are vulnerable to attack, and identify the specific vulnerabilities or exploits that affect them. Scanning and verifying the findings can also help the penetration tester prepare for the next steps of the assessment, such as exploiting or reporting the vulnerabilities. Scanning and verifying the findings can be done by using tools such as Nmap, which can scan hosts and networks for ports, services, versions, OS, or other information1, or Metasploit, which can exploit hosts and networks using various payloads or modules2. The other options are not likely next steps for the penetration tester. Alerting the target company of the discovered information is not a next step, but rather a final step, that involves reporting the findings and recommendations to the client after completing the assessment. Verifying the discovered information with the manufacturer is not a next step, as it may not provide accurate or reliable information about the vulnerabilities or exploits that affect the equipment, and it may also alert the manufacturer or the client of the assessment. Returning to the dumpster for more information is not a next step, as it may not yield any more useful or relevant information than what was already collected from the receipts.

A downgrade attack is a type of attack that exploits a vulnerability in the protocol negotiation process between a client and a server to force them to use a less secure protocol than they originally intended. A downgrade attack can be used to identify whether a less secure protocol is being utilized on a wireless network by intercepting and modifying the messages exchanged during the protocol negotiation phase, such as the association request and response frames, and making the client and the server agree on a weaker protocol, such as WEP or WPA, instead of a stronger one, such as WPA2 or WPA3. A downgrade attack can also enable the attacker to perform other attacks, such as cracking the encryption keys or capturing the network traffic, more easily by taking advantage of the weaknesses of the less secure protocol. A downgrade attack can be performed by using tools such as Airgeddon, which is a multi-use bash script for Linux systems to audit wireless networks1.

Using credentials during a vulnerability scan allows the scanner to gather more detailed information about the target system, including installed software, patch levels, and configuration settings. This helps to reduce the likelihood of false positives and increase the true positives of the results. Nessus is a popular vulnerability scanner that supports credential-based scanning and can be used to accomplish this goal. OpenVAS and Nmap are also popular scanning tools, but using default mode or running as the root user alone may not provide the necessary level of detail for accurate vulnerability identification. OWASP ZAP is a web application scanner and may not be applicable for non-web-based targets.

The most likely explanation for what occurred is that the tester IP was blocked by the web server. The web server may have detected the web scanner as a malicious or suspicious activity and blocked the tester’s IP address from accessing the web application. This could result in an unauthorized to view this page message in the browser.