Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
niques available in these tools one can have a good knowledge of the application running
on a remote computer (Endler & collier 2007).
Mapping the Network
After gathering all the useful information it's time to perform the last step i.e. mapping
the network. As described by the Gregg (2006) that the mapping of the network gives
you the blueprint of an organization. There are two methods to compile this information
one is manual mapping and other one is automated mapping. Manual mapping is like the
documenting the findings manually just as we did in the first step where we gathered the
initial basic information and documented it. As until now that collection of information
has enough things in it for mapping, like IP addresses, domain names, open ports, access
points, banner information and operating system information. On the other hand there are
some tools available for the automated method like Neo trace and visual route. There is
perception that although automated mapping is fast but sometimes it might generate errors.
Types of Footprinting and their Explanation:
Below are types of footprinting and their
sub-branches:
Open Source Footprinting:
It is a type of safest footprinting as it is in legal limits and you can do it without any fear
that if you are doing any kind of illegal task. It includes finding basic information which is
majorly present for public use too, Like finding out the phone numbers, Emails Addresses,
performing who is request for the domain name, searching through DNS tables, and scan-
ning certain it addresses through automated tools (I,ll post them later with detailed info,
of usage), and searching out some common means of finding information about the server
system and owner. Many of the companies post a large amount of information about them
self at the their own website without realizing the fact that it can be useful for a hacker too,
also sometimes in HTML and coding comments are present which themselves give hackers
a lot of information about coding. As comments are present their to tell a coder about the
function of some specific code.
Network Enumeration:
Network enumerating is a computing activity in which user names and info on groups,
shares and services of networked computers are retrieved. It should not be confused with
Network mapping which only retrieves information about which servers are connected to a
specific network and what o/s is run on them. It includes identifying the domain name and
also searching for the registrar information since companies domains are listed with regis-
