The importance of reconnaissance

Reconnaissance focuses on collecting as much data as possible on a target and then analyzing the collected data to create meaningful information that can be leveraged by an adversary or threat actor to identify the attack surface and security vulnerabilities on a targeted system, network, or organization. Adversaries use various reconnaissance techniques and tools to collect system information, networking information, and organizational information about their targets. Without first understanding your target and their weaknesses, it’ll be challenging to develop cyber-attack methods, including exploits that will be effective in compromising the confidentiality, integrity, and/or availability of the targeted system, network, or organization. This section provides a general introduction to reconnaissance before we dive deep into the specifics of passive reconnaissance.

Let’s take a look at the different types of information that may...