"BASICS OF ETHICAL HACKING:SERIES #3"

Image source:https://pixabay.com/en/hacker-attack-intel-processor-3062252/

Hi friends,I am continuing my post of "BASICS OF ETHICAL HACKING SERIES".
You can read my previous post from this below link:
https://steemit.com/hacking/@danishali22786/basics-of-ethical-hacking-series-1
https://steemit.com/hacking/@danishali22786/basics-of-ethical-hacking-series-2

"FOOTPRINTING"

Footprinting is the technique of gathering information about the target of evaluation.It is the pre-attack stage,the purpose of footprinting is to learn as much as possible about a system,its remote access capabilities,its ports and services,and all the aspects of its security.

To successfully hack a system,it is important to know the inner details.While most companies globally are unaware ofv the role that hackers play,most of them are now hiring professional hackers to protect their systems.While footprinting can be used to attack a system,It can also be used to protect it.

Information Gathering involves:-
*Finding the target's URL(Uniform Resource Locator)/IP address
*Footprinting through job sites
*Using Google search for more results
*Finding out the "who is" record of the target domain.

Benefits of FootPrinting
*Stealth: The biggest advantage of footprinting is that it is completely stealth.Since it involves passive fingerprinting and no direct contact with the target host,the target host is unaware of the processes undertaken by the attacker.

*Technical Information:It helps the attacker in collecting data or information.

*Secondary data:Apart from the technical data,a lot of non-technical data/information is gathered during footprinting,which is exploited in later stage.

Types of Footprinting

*Open source Footprinting:It is the safest type of footprinting as it is within legal limits,and one can do it without any fear of doing any kind of illegal activity.It includes finding basic information such as locating phone numbers,e-mail addresses,performing whois query for the domain name,searching dns tables,and scanning certain Ip addresses through automated toolsn and finding about server system and owner.
*Network enumeration:This is the computing activity in which user names and information on groups,shares and services of networked computers are retrieved.

There are many topics in Footprinting,I will discussed it later.

Objectives of writing this post:

My main purpose of writing this post is to inform you all that there is no way to completely protect a network unless one knows what he is up against.Only by knowing how an attack happens,and what all an attacker can do to compromise with a machine,individuals and organisations can properly protect their systems.
Legal issues:
I request to all readers to follow legal procedures under all circumstances because you are hacking in to a system.
The government has made it mandatory to get prior permission before running any of the tools against any network.
There are many cyber laws made by the government,we must follow that otherwise It will be considered as a crime.
I have only basic information of ethical hacking learned from internet and by reading various books but I also want to learn it deeply.I want to join some big organization of ethical hacking institutes.But they are very costly.So I am finding a way to earn money and when I have enough money I will take admission to that ethical hacking institutes.
Thank you friends.
To be continued....