SEC504 hardware requirements

This question is for anyone who has taken SEC504 recently, it looks like the laptop requirements recently changed on the site and now the USB wireless adapter is listed as mandatory. Is this accurate? I've reached out to support a few days ago and they just got back to me last night and said they have reached out to the instructor to clarify.

https://www.sans.org/course/hacker-techniques-exploits-incident-handling

Mandatory Laptop Hardware Requirements

x86-compatible or x64-compatible 2.0 GHz CPU minimum or higher
USB Port
16 GB RAM or higher required
USB Wireless adapter required. We recommend the following: https://hakshop.com/collections/wireless-gear/products/alfa-usb-wifi-awus036neh
70 GB available hard drive space
Any Service Pack level is acceptable for Windows 8, Windows 7, or Windows Vista

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Comments

JDMurray

The ALFA is a popular and inexpensive line of USB 802.11 adapters widely used by pentesters.

Here's the next model up: Alfa 802.11b/g/n Long-Range USB Wireless Adapter - Hacker Warehouse

IaHawk

I still haven't heard back from them so I just ended up ordering the one they recommended off of Amazon with next day shipping for $31. I leave Sunday for training...beyond excited for this course!

TechGromit

Not sure why they want this unless your laptop doesn't have wireless built in. The challenge on Day 6 was conducted on a wired network. You have to be very careful when utilizing WiFi hacking tools, while you do want to learn how to use them, you do not want to run afoul of accidentally hacking into someone's network without permission. The point of the course it to learn how hackers operate so you can better defend your companies networks to stop them, Not to produce more hackers.

IaHawk

I wasn't sure either, but I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed for the class...we will see.

gwood113

Its because a vm needs a usb wireless stick to be promiscuous when you're using builtin wireless adapter as the host's main connection. My personal favorite is the TP-LINK N150. It's cheap and works well with Airmon-ng on Kali.

stephens316

I will assume my wifi pineapple will meet this need

bigdogz

I signed up for the SEC504.
I am doing the class via mentoring sessions.
According to the instructor, the only time that device is needed is if your native host is Linux based. We will not be performing wireless attacks.

Are you doing the class via OnDemand or vLive ?

IaHawk

I did the live class in New Orleans and it wasn't needed. I had a Windows 10 laptop and ran the Linux VM.

BillHoo

Tip: If you have a fresh windows build. Make sure you go thru all the software updates before the class! It kinda sucked when I was trying to go thru the labs and the machine was trying to install updates. Also ensure you have Adobe Acrobat .pdf reader installed beforehand.

TechGromit

BillHoo wrote: »

Tip: If you have a fresh windows build. Make sure you go thru all the software updates before the class! It kinda sucked when I was trying to go thru the labs and the machine was trying to install updates. Also ensure you have Adobe Acrobat .pdf reader installed beforehand.

LOL, I had the same exact thing happen to me, I built a laptop for SANS 504, took an update in my hotel room the night before class, and wouldn't you know the damn thing Blue screened on me after rebooting. I spent a good hour trying to revert back to previous restore point. Was sweating that one.

When I went to Blackhat later that year, I had two laptops, fully updated and all the disks needed to rebuild the computer from scratch just in case.

cyberguypr

Hey, at least you showed up with a Windows machine. When I took 504 we had multiple people asking for Windows CD/USB or copies of VMs. Somehow they though the requirements were optional.

sb97

cyberguypr wrote: »

Hey, at least you showed up with a Windows machine. When I took 504 we had multiple people asking for Windows CD/USB or copies of VMs. Somehow they though the requirements were optional.

They are more like guidelines