Footprinting
Encyclopedia
Footprinting is the technique of gathering information about computer systems and the entities they belong to. This is done by employing various computer security techniques, as:
When used in the computer security lexicon, "footprinting" generally refers to one of the pre-attack phases; tasks performed prior to doing the actual attack. Some of the tools used for footprinting are Sam Spade
, nslookup
, traceroute
, Nmap
and neotrace.
- DNSDomain name systemThe Domain Name System is a hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participating entities...
queries - Network enumeration
- Network queries
- Operating systemOperating systemAn operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
identification - Organizational queries
- PingPingPing is a computer network administration utility used to test the reachability of a host on an Internet Protocol network and to measure the round-trip time for messages sent from the originating host to a destination computer...
sweeps - Point of contact queries
- Port Scanning
- Registrar queries (WHOISWHOISWHOIS is a query and response protocol that is widely used for querying databases that store the registered users or assignees of an Internet resource, such as a domain name, an IP address block, or an autonomous system, but is also used for a wider range of other information. The protocol stores...
queries) - SNMP queries
- World Wide WebWorld Wide WebThe World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
spidering
When used in the computer security lexicon, "footprinting" generally refers to one of the pre-attack phases; tasks performed prior to doing the actual attack. Some of the tools used for footprinting are Sam Spade
Sam Spade (software)
Sam Spade is the name of a Windows software tool designed to assist in tracking down sources of e-mail spam. It is also the name of a free web service that provides access to similar online tools. The Sam Spade utility was authored by Steve Atkins in 1997. It is named after the fictional character...
, nslookup
Nslookup
nslookup is a network administration command-line tool available for many computer operating systems for querying the Domain Name System to obtain domain name or IP address mapping or for any other specific DNS record.-Background:...
, traceroute
Traceroute
traceroute is a computer network diagnostic tool for displaying the route and measuring transit delays of packets across an Internet Protocol network. Traceroute is available on most operating systems....
, Nmap
Nmap
Nmap is a security scanner originally written by Gordon Lyon used to discover hosts and services on a computer network, thus creating a "map" ofthe network...
and neotrace.
See also
- digital footprintDigital footprintA digital footprint is a trail left by an entity's interactions in a digital environment; including their usage of TV, mobile phone, internet and world wide web, mobile web and other devices and sensors...
- NmapNmapNmap is a security scanner originally written by Gordon Lyon used to discover hosts and services on a computer network, thus creating a "map" ofthe network...
- Network SecurityNetwork securityIn the field of networking, the area of network security consists of the provisions and policies adopted by the network administrator to prevent and monitor unauthorized access, misuse, modification, or denial of the computer network and network-accessible resources...
- WHOISWHOISWHOIS is a query and response protocol that is widely used for querying databases that store the registered users or assignees of an Internet resource, such as a domain name, an IP address block, or an autonomous system, but is also used for a wider range of other information. The protocol stores...
- nslookupNslookupnslookup is a network administration command-line tool available for many computer operating systems for querying the Domain Name System to obtain domain name or IP address mapping or for any other specific DNS record.-Background:...
- jsky
- Visual Traceroute