Module 3: Information Gathering and Vulnerability Scanning

CompTIA PenTest+ / Ethical Hacking Certification Series Professional Reference Guide — GitHub Edition Covers: Passive Reconnaissance · OSINT · DNS · Social Media · Cryptographic Analysis · Shodan Table of Contents 3.0 Introduction 3.1 Performing Passive Reconnaissance 3.1.1 Overview 3.1.2 Active Reconnaissance vs. Passive Reconnaissance 3.1.3 The OSINT Methodology — How Professionals Think 3.1.4 OSINT Tools — The Complete Professional Arsenal 3.1.5 DNS Lookups — Deep Dive 3.1.6 DNS Reconnaissance — Advanced Techniques 3.1.7 Identification of Technical and Administrative Contacts 3.1.8 WHOIS Intelligence — Extracting Maximum Value 3.1.9 DNS Lookups — Lab-Level Practical Reference 3.1.10 Cloud vs. Self-Hosted Applications and Related Subdomains 3.1.11 Social Media Scraping 3.1.12 Employee Intelligence Gathering 3.1.13 Cryptographic Flaws 3.1.14 Finding Information from SSL Certificates 3.1.15 Company Reputation and Security Posture 3.1.16 File Metadata 3.1.17 Web Archiving, Caching, and Public Code Repositories 3.1.18 Finding Out About the Organization — Aggregation Techniques 3.1.19 Advanced Searches — Google Dorking and Beyond 3.1.20 Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) Gathering — Frameworks and Automation 3.1.21 Shodan — The Search Engine for Everything Connected 3.1.22 Breach Data Intelligence — Leaked Credentials and Exposure Monitoring 3.0 Introduction Module Overview: Information Gathering and Vulnerability Scanning Module Objective: Perform information gathering and vulnerability scanning activities at a professional, senior-level standard. Before a single exploit is launched, before a single payload is crafted, every professional penetration tester invests significant time in a discipline that separates competent practitioners from exceptional ones: information gathering . The reconnaissance phase is the intelligence foundation upon which the entire attack strategy is built. The quality of your reconnaissance directly determines the quality of your attack. Why T