Design and Implementation of a Penetration Testing Framework for Simulated Networks

This paper describes the design and implementation of a tailored penetration testing framework for simulated network environments. This framework integrates Python exploits with automation of Metasploit to provide an organized process for scanning vulnerabilities, exploitation, and reporting. It also exploits SSH vulnerabilities and uses a modular approach ideal for academic research, professional training, and security assessments [1], [2]. The framework’s architecture is customizable at different levels which encourages its use with different types of networks. It was exposed to testing within controlled environments which showed that it was able to find vulnerabilities without generating a lot of false positives which serves as a better alternative to testing on live systems [5].