Overview of reconnaissance

In a battle, a successful attack depends on how much you know about your enemy. Knowledge of where and how many troops, their supply chain, and their equipment is vital to a strategic approach to engaging the enemy. It's very similar to why we recon before our attack.

Recon is the first and most convenient way an attacker gathers information about a target. The purpose of recon is to learn as much as you can about a target. For example, does it have remote access capabilities? What ports and services are being used? What does an organization's security profile look like?

Attackers spend at least 70% of their time in this phase because it's a way to get a ton of information about the target (without being discovered).

First, we will collect as much elementary intel as we can about the target – and when I say elementary, I mean basic, foundational stuff, including things such as what the website looks like, where the organization...