The following is a list of guidelines for gaining access to a network/system:

1. Perform social engineering.
2. Perform shoulder surfing.
3. Perform various password attacks.
4. Perform network sniffing.
5. Perform Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks.
6. Use various techniques to exploit target systems and get a shell (that is, to gain access via a command line).
7. Discover other devices using lateral movement.
8. Attempt to escalate privileges on the compromised system.

In the next section, we will outline the fundamentals for a covering-tracks checklist.