The Complete Metasploit Guide

Intelligence gathering/reconnaissance phase

In the intelligence-gathering stage, you need to gather as much information as possible about the target network. The target network could be a website, an organization, or might be a full-fledged fortune company. The most important aspect is to gather information about the target from social media networks and use Google Hacking (a way to extract sensitive information from Google using specific queries) to find confidential and sensitive information related to the organization to be tested. Footprinting the organization using active and passive attacks can also be an approach.

The intelligence gathering phase is one of the most crucial aspects of penetration testing. Correctly gained knowledge ...