Active Information Gathering¶
What is Active Information Gathering?¶
Active information gathering is a proactive process of directly interacting with network systems and devices to collect data and assess their characteristics. This approach involves techniques such as port scanning, service enumeration, and vulnerability scanning to identify open ports, running services, and potential security weaknesses. Active information gathering provides a comprehensive understanding of the network's configuration, topology, and potential attack surface, aiding in security assessments and risk mitigation strategies.
Nmap¶
Nmap is a powerful network scanner used for discovering hosts and services on a network. It provides various scanning techniques like TCP SYN scan, TCP connect scan, UDP scan, etc., and can output results in different formats.
Netdiscover¶
Netdiscover is a network scanning tool used for discovering active hosts on a network by sending ARP requests and analyzing responses, providing information about IP addresses, MAC addresses, and hostnames.
Nikto¶
Nikto is an open-source web server scanner that identifies potential vulnerabilities and misconfigurations in web servers by performing comprehensive tests and analysis.