Ethical Hacking - Session 1 - Passive Reconnaissance

For session 1 we'll be covering the following.

• Describing foot printing and passive reconnaissance.
• Documentation methods
• Basic information gathering
• DNS enumeration
• Researching People
• Researching Companies
• Google Dorks
• The network edge
• Internet resources
• Connecting the dots

What is computer hacking?
Whether for noble or bad purposes, the art of hacking remains the same. Using a specialized set of tools, techniques, knowledge, and skills to bypass computer security measures allows someone to “hack” into a computer or network. The purpose behind their use of these tools and techniques is really the only thing in question. Whereas some use these tools and techniques for personal gain or profit, the good guys practice them in order to better defend their systems and, in the process, provide insight on how to catch the bad guys.

What is ethical computer hacking?
Broadly speaking, if the access to a system is authorized, the hacking is ethical and legal. If it isn't, there's an offence under the Computer Fraud and abuse act.

Why ethically hack?
Ethical hacking is the best way to comprehend how systems are breached and how to protect them.The work that ethical hackers do for organizations helps improve system security and broadly increases organizations knowledge of information security. Many organizations are required to undergo pentests, ethical hacks, or similar tests and audits to confirm system security is in place, and to improve upon it.

Pre-req's

A basic test:

Do you know the OSI reference model?
What port does SMTP use?
What port does telnet use?
What transport protocols do they use?

if you’re having trouble answering the above questions these sessions are likely not for you. You can choose to sit and strugle if you’d like however you’ll have the most success if you master the basics first.

A book to read:
You should purchase and read separately - this will give you a further insight and prepare you for the examples we’re going to practice on.

CEH Certified Ethical Hacker All-in-One Exam Guide - by Walker, Matt (Sep 7, 2011)

Get Setup (Required!):

Download Kali Linux
http://www.kali.org/downloads/

Install Kali (use physical hardware or virtaul machines, either will work)
http://docs.kali.org/category/installation

Update kali
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
msfupdate