There is a myth that all Windows systems are easy to exploit. This is not entirely true. Almost any Windows system can be hardened to the point that it takes too long to exploit its vulnerabilities. In this chapter, you will learn how to footprint your Windows network and discover the vulnerabilities before the bad guys do.
You will also learn ways to investigate and map your Windows network to find Windows systems that are susceptible to exploits. In some cases, this will be adding to your knowledge of the top 10 security tools; in others, we will show you entirely new tools to handle this category of investigation.
We will cover the following topics in this chapter:
- Footprinting the network
- An annotated list of Nmap command options
- Using OpenVAS
- Using Maltego
- Using KeepNote
