Metasploit 5.0 for Beginners - Second Edition

Chapter 4: Information Gathering with Metasploit

Information gathering and enumeration are the initial stages of the penetration testing life cycle. These stages are often overlooked, and people end up directly using automated tools in an attempt to quickly compromise the target. However, such attempts are not likely to succeed.

"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe."

– Abraham Lincoln

This is a very famous quote by Abraham Lincoln that is applicable to penetration testing as well! The more effort you take to gather information about your targets and enumerate them, the more likely you are to succeed with compromising. By performing comprehensive information gathering and enumeration, you will ...