Module Summary

• Footprinting is the process of collecting as much information as possible about a target network, for identifying various ways to intrude into an organization's network system.
• It reduces attacker's focus area to specific range of IP address, network, domain name, remote access, etc.
• Attackers use search engines to extract information about a target.
• Attacker use social engineering tricks to gather sensitive information from social networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, etc.
• Information obtained from target's website enables an attacker to build a detailed map of website's structure and architecture.
• Competitive intelligence is the process of identifying, gathering, analyzing, verifying, and using information about your competitors from resources such as the Internet.
• DNS records provide important information about location and type of servers.
• Attackers conduct traceroute to extract information about: network topology, trusted routers, and firewall locations.