Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Study Guide

Chapter 2. Information Gathering for the Ethical Hacker

I was watching a nature show on TV a couple of nights back and saw a lion pride hunt from start to finish. The actual end was totally awesome, if a bit gruesome, with a lot of neck biting and suffocation, followed by bloody chewing. But the buildup to that attack was different altogether. In a way, it was visually…boring. But if you watched closely, you could see the real work of the attack was done before any energy was used at all.

For the first three-quarters of the program, the cameras focused on lions just sitting there, seemingly oblivious to the world around them. The herd of antelope, or whatever the heck they were, saw the lions but still went about their merry business of pulling up and chewing on grass. Every so often the lions would look up at the herd, almost like they were counting sheep (or antelope) in an effort to nap; then they’d go back to licking themselves and shooing away flies. A few times, they’d get up and stroll aimlessly about, and the herd would react one way or another. Late in the show, one camera angle across the field got a great shot of a lion turning from its apathetic appearance to focusing both eyes toward the herd—and you could see what was coming. When the pride finally went on the attack, it was quick, coordinated, and deadly.

What were these animals doing? In effect (and yes, I know it’s a stretch, but just go with it), they were footprinting. They spent the time figuring out how the ...