Metasploit Revealed: Secrets of the Expert Pentester

What are client-side attacks?

As we have seen in the preceding section, if the target system is not in the same network as that of the attacker, then the attacker cannot reach the target system directly. In this case, the attacker will have to send the payload to the target system by some other means. Some of the techniques for delivering the payload to the target system are:

1. The attacker hosts a website with the required malicious payload and sends it to the victim.
2. The attacker sends the payload embedded in any innocent looking file such as DOC, PDF, or XLS to the victim over email.
3. The attacker sends the payload using an infected media drive (such as USB flash drive, CD, or DVD)

Now, once the payload has been sent to the victim, the ...