How do you check for live systems in a targeted environment? There are plenty of ways to accomplish this. Some common ways to perform these types of scans are: ■ Wardialing ■ Wardriving ■ Pinging ■ Port scanning Each of these techniques, along with others we will explore, offers something that the others don’t, or … Read more
Networking scanning is a methodical process that involves probing a target network with the intent of finding out information about it and using that information for attack phases. If you have a command of network and system fundamentals, coupled with thorough reconnaissance it is possible to get a reasonable picture of a network—in some cases, … Read more
There are many steps in the footprinting process, each of which will yield a different type of information. Remember to log each piece of information that you gather no matter how insignificant it may seem at the time. Using Search Engines One of the first steps in the process of footprinting tends to be using … Read more
Social Engineering One of the easiest ways to gain information about a target or to get information in general is to just ask for it. When asking doesn’t work, you can try manipulating people with the goal of getting that gem of information that can give you useful insight. Network and System Attacks These are … Read more
Open Source and Passive Information Gathering As far as intelligence gathering goes, open source or passive information gathering is the least aggressive. Basically the process relies on obtaining information from those sources that are typically publicly available and out in the open. Potential sources include newspapers, websites, discussion groups, press releases, television, social networking, blogs, … Read more
Before you start doing footprinting and learn the techniques, you must set some expectations as to what you are looking for and what you should have in your hands at the end of the process. Keep in mind that the list of information here is not exhaustive, nor should you expect to be able to … Read more
Footprinting is about gathering information and formulating a hacking strategy. With proper care you, as the attacking party, may be able to uncover the path of least resistance into an organization. Passively gathering information is by far the easiest and most effective method. If done by a skilled, inventive, and curious party (you!), the amount … Read more
Now let’s circle back around to the first step in the process of ethical hacking: footprinting. Footprinting, or reconnaissance, is a method of observing and collecting information about a potential target with the intention of finding a way to attack the target. Foot-printing looks for information and later analyzes it, looking for weaknesses or potential … Read more
For an overview of the process, let’s look at the steps of ethical hacking to see where foot-printing fits in as well as what future phases hold. Phase 1: Footprinting Footprinting is the first phase of the ethical hacking process and is the subject of this article. This phase consists of passively gaining information about … Read more
Cryptography can be applied in communication of data and information, which we will see in the form of IPSec, SSL, and PGP. In this article we will examine these applications and see how cryptography fits in. IPSec Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) is a set of protocols designed to protect the confidentiality and integrity of data … Read more