Harvesting data from the internet
The internet contains lots of websites, open databases, and servers that store data about people, networks, and organizations. Before an adversary launches a cyber-attack on their target, the attacker spends sufficient time researching the target to better understand their infrastructure and identify any security vulnerabilities that can be exploited to gain a foothold. Attackers gather and analyze OSINT from multiple data sources to create a profile of their target, which helps to identify targeted hosts, servers, operating systems, network block information, IP addresses, geo-location, subdomains, and so on. Such information is very useful in planning a cyber-attack as it enables the attacker to determine the attack surface of the targeted organization.
As an ethical hacker with a good moral compass and intentions, using the same TTPs as adversaries can help organizations identify how they are intentionally or unintentionally leaking sensitive...
