Ethical Hacking: Techniques, Tools, and Countermeasures, 4th Edition

Exploitation

After carrying out the enumeration phase, an attacker can begin actually attacking the system. Enumeration provides details that are actionable for the next phase of system hacking, including details of user accounts and groups. The information on usernames and groups highlights points on the target system on which to concentrate the exploitation activities. Up to this point, an attacker has collected progressively more detailed information about systems and services and what those services are offering; now the process of exploiting what has been uncovered can begin.

One of the most useful pieces of information discovered during the enumeration phase is a list of usernames. During the exploitation process, such information on user ...