- Ethical Hacking Tutorial
- Ethical Hacking - Home
- Ethical Hacking - Overview
- Ethical Hacking - Hacker Types
- Ethical Hacking - Famous Hackers
- Ethical Hacking - Terminologies
- Ethical Hacking - Tools
- Ethical Hacking - Skills
- Ethical Hacking - Process
- Ethical Hacking - Reconnaissance
- Ethical Hacking - Footprinting
- Ethical Hacking - Fingerprinting
- Ethical Hacking - Sniffing
- Ethical Hacking - Sniffing Tools
- Ethical Hacking - ARP Poisoning
- Ethical Hacking - DNS Poisoning
- Ethical Hacking - Exploitation
- Ethical Hacking - Enumeration
- Ethical Hacking - Metasploit
- Ethical Hacking - Trojan Attacks
- Ethical Hacking - TCP/IP Hijacking
- Ethical Hacking - Email Hijacking
- Ethical Hacking - Password Hacking
- Ethical Hacking - Wireless Hacking
- Ethical Hacking - Social Engineering
- Ethical Hacking - DDOS Attacks
- Ethical Hacking - Cross Site Scripting
- Ethical Hacking - SQL Injection
- Ethical Hacking - Pen Testing
- Ethical Hacking Useful Resources
- Ethical Hacking - Quick Guide
- Ethical Hacking - Useful Resources
- Ethical Hacking - Discussion
Ethical Hacking - Reconnaissance
Information Gathering and getting to know the target systems is the first process in ethical hacking. Reconnaissance is a set of processes and techniques (Footprinting, Scanning & Enumeration) used to covertly discover and collect information about a target system.
During reconnaissance, an ethical hacker attempts to gather as much information about a target system as possible, following the seven steps listed below −
- Gather initial information
- Determine the network range
- Identify active machines
- Discover open ports and access points
- Fingerprint the operating system
- Uncover services on ports
- Map the network
We will discuss in detail all these steps in the subsequent chapters of this tutorial. Reconnaissance takes place in two parts − Active Reconnaissance and Passive Reconnaissance.
Active Reconnaissance
In this process, you will directly interact with the computer system to gain information. This information can be relevant and accurate. But there is a risk of getting detected if you are planning active reconnaissance without permission. If you are detected, then system admin can take severe action against you and trail your subsequent activities.
Passive Reconnaissance
In this process, you will not be directly connected to a computer system. This process is used to gather essential information without ever interacting with the target systems.