Cracking into NetExec - Building Open Source and Yourself
Source: YouTube · Hack The Box · published Jul 3, 2025 · 2:08:31
MPGN discusses his 10-year cybersecurity journey from consulting to purple teaming, and his work developing and maintaining Net Exec (formerly Crackmap Exec) 1:24-1:27.
Key Takeaways:
• MPGN shares entertaining physical intrusion stories, including breaking into a psychiatric hospital where escaping proved more challenging than entering 8:21-8:54
• He got into hacking through French CTF websites like Newbie Contest and Root Me, which led to his career in cybersecurity 15:16-15:56
• Net Exec has evolved from a solo project to a community-driven tool with multiple maintainers and contributors 35:03-35:44
• Building labs is essential for tool development, allowing testing of new Active Directory components and exploits 39:17-39:40
MPGN emphasizes that open source contributions can serve as a portfolio to showcase skills to potential employers, acting as an alternative to traditional CVs 32:20-32:36.
Sources:
- 1:24-1:27 Introduction to Net Exec project
- 8:21-8:54 Physical intrusion story at psychiatric hospital
- 15:16-15:56 How MPGN got started in hacking
- 35:03-35:44 Evolution of Net Exec as a community project
- 39:17-39:40 Importance of building labs for tool development
- 32:20-32:36 Open source as professional portfolio
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First 800 characters of the transcript
Oh my goodness, you hard rolling into me being on. That's wonderful. Hi everyone. Uh that's not the intro I expected, but we're here. Uh thank you so much for tuning in to another Hack the Box live stream. Uh we'll go ahead and get started formally here in just a moment. Uh we're going to roll music just for a second to let folks uh tune in. The notifications have gone out that the live stream has started. Uh but we'll get started right after that. So, uh, bear with me and I'll see you here in about half a minute or a minute. Awesome. Unless Emma just leaves me to hang out here and talk and stare at the camera. How's everyone in chat doing? Happy I guess almost Friday, everyone. We uh we've almost made it to the end of the week, but uh here, let me go ahead and double check just to make su…