The passive and active reconnaissance phases map the target network and system and identify vulnerabilities that may be exploitable to achieve the attacker's objective. During this stage of the attacker's kill chain, there is a strong bias for action-testers want to immediately launch exploits and demonstrate that they can compromise the target. However, an unplanned attack may not be the most effective means of achieving the object, and it may sacrifice the stealth that is needed to achieve the objective of the attack.
Penetration testers have adopted (formally or informally) a process known as threat modeling, which was originally developed by network planners to develop defensive countermeasures against an attack.
Penetration testers and attackers have turned the defensive threat modeling methodology on its head to improve the success of an attack...
