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Application & OT Security · Foundational

Footprinting

The process of collecting as much information as possible about a target organization to build a profile of its attack surface.

Definition

EC-Council uses footprinting to describe the first phase of ethical hacking, covering search engine, web, email, WHOIS, DNS, network and social engineering footprinting. It identifies domain names, IP blocks, employee details and technologies. Footprinting can be passive or active.

Example

Compiling a target profile from the company website, DNS records, LinkedIn-style staff listings and WHOIS data.

Exam tip

CEH uses 'footprinting' where CompTIA says 'reconnaissance'; know both.

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