The attacker conducts research on a target. The attacker identifies targets (both systems and people) and determines his attack methodology. The attacker may look for Internet-facing services or individuals to exploit.

Activities

• Identifying websites that may be vulnerable to web application vulnerabilities
• Analyzing the target organization’s current or projected business activities
• Understanding the target organization’s internal organization and products
• Researching conferences attended by employees
• Browsing social media sites to more effectively identify and socially-engineer employees

Categories

Well known techniques

Matrix techniques

• Public scanning services
• Vulnerability scanning

References

• Attack Life Cycle