There’s a constant digital cat-and-mouse game unfolding between hackers and security professionals. As cyber adversaries are growing wiser, breaching network defenses with precision, understanding their applied methods has become important. Cyber reconnaissance is a defensive method that cybersecurity experts use in their fight against cyber terror.
An easy read of this article will allow you to unravel the intricacies of reconnaissance in cybersecurity and help you fortify your company’s security infrastructure.
Let us take you around the frontlines of the cyber battleground!
What is Reconnaissance?
In ethical hacking, the first and foremost step involves information gathering and understanding the target system. This crucial step, known as reconnaissance, consists of processes like foot printing, scanning, and enumeration. These techniques help to unveil extensive details about a target system, forming a vital base for defensive initiatives.
Reconnaissance is irreplaceable in identifying vulnerabilities and potential access points, making it a focal point for the retrieval of sensitive data. Ethical hackers use reconnaissance for penetration testing, ensuring the strength of security measures.
Types of Reconnaissance in Cybersecurity
Cyber reconnaissance is carried out in two main types, these are:
- Active Reconnaissance
- Passive Reconnaissance.
Let’s take a deeper look at these two topics and what they mean.
Active Reconnaissance
Active reconnaissance in cybersecurity is the deliberate attempt to gather information on a target by interacting with it actively. Cybercriminals using active reconnaissance employ tools such as automated scanning, manual testing, ping, and netcat to gather info about computer systems. While active reconnaissance is faster and more precise, it also makes more noise and is likelier to be detected within the system.
Example of Active Reconnaissance: Port Scanning
Port scanning is one of the widely used examples of active reconnaissance, a tactic that is employed by attackers to identify open ports on a computer. These ports serve as entry points for data going in and out.
By scanning and analyzing these ports, attackers are able to identify visible services and potential vulnerabilities. This process allows them to strategize and pinpoint areas for potential attacks. Active reconnaissance, such as port scanning, enables threat actors to gather crucial information about a target system, laying the groundwork for further exploitation.
Passive Reconnaissance
Unlike active reconnaissance, passive reconnaissance involves gathering information on a target passively without directly interacting with the system. Passive reconnaissance employs non-intrusive methods like Wireshark and Shodan to collect information without directly interacting with target systems.
By utilizing tools such as OS fingerprinting, data is harvested discreetly from web searches and free reports, ensuring the target remains unaware. This approach enables the extraction of valuable details, including IP addresses, domain names, email addresses, and software vulnerabilities, through open-source intelligence.
The beauty of passive reconnaissance lies in its stealth. It allows analysts to understand a system without triggering any alerts, making it a useful technique for surveying networks.
Example of Passive Reconnaissance: Wireshark
Wireshark, a tool renowned for network traffic analysis, is a potent method used for passive reconnaissance. If a hacker infiltrates a company’s Wi-Fi network, they can discreetly eavesdrop on employee traffic. By analyzing this captured data in Wireshark, the attacker gains invaluable insights, posing a serious threat to the compromised network’s security.
How Does Reconnaissance Work?
An attacker uses reconnaissance to gain information on a target without actively engaging with it. This is done through open ports on the network and other network services that are running. This information is used to gain access to networks that are not connected to the public internet. Recons help you to discover a lot of useful information on a target system, but it can take weeks or even months to successfully complete a recon.
An ethical hacker follows seven key steps during cyber reconnaissance:
- Collecting preliminary information.
- Determining the range of the network.
- Identifying machines that are active.
- Pinpointing access points and ports that are available.
- Using fingerprinting to identify the operating system.
- Locating port services.
- Creating a network map
In gaining information about a network, attackers focus on:
- OS platform
- Running network services
- File permissions
- User account information
- Trust relationships
This systematic approach allows attackers to create a comprehensive profile for a target system, increasing the likelihood of successful exploitation.
7 Fundamentals of Reconnaissance
Below are the seven fundamentals that help characterize a reconnaissance process.
- Make continuous reconnaissance a habit.
- Deploy reconnaissance assets dynamically without holding on to them.
- Align all efforts towards reconnaissance objectives.
- Report precise and timely information.
- Preserve flexibility in reconnaissance operations.
- Engage with and stay vigilant regarding threats.
- Act swiftly to comprehend and evolve with the situation.
How to Prevent a Reconnaissance Attack
Penetration testing is an essential approach for organizations to check how vulnerable their network is to reconnaissance attacks. By hiring security experts, companies can thoroughly assess their network through tests like penetration testing, vulnerability assessment, and compliance testing.
Using tools like port scanning and vulnerability scanning during these tests helps identify potential weaknesses in the network. This strategy ensures that organizations stay one step ahead in identifying and fixing any issues before they become a security threat.
To prevent reconnaissance attacks, companies can deploy passive scanning tools that identify online hosts and vulnerability scanners to pinpoint network vulnerabilities. SIEM solutions play an important role in detecting source IPs engaged in scanning activities within the network.
Enhancing network security further, a stateful firewall proves irreplaceable as the first line of defense. Logging multiple connection attempts from the same source IP ensures that only essential traffic is permitted, strengthening the network perimeter against intrusion attempts.
These measures, aligned with the MITRE ATT&CK Framework, create a strong defense strategy, protecting organizations from potential reconnaissance threats.
FAQ
What is the principle of reconnaissance?
Cyber reconnaissance involves covertly gathering information about a target network to understand vulnerabilities and potential points of entry. This principle allows attackers to profile systems and plan effective strategies for unauthorized access.
What is the difference between reconnaissance and scanning?
Reconnaissance involves passive data collection to profile a target, while scanning is an active process, using tools to probe a network for vulnerabilities actively. Reconnaissance is about understanding while scanning focuses on identifying weaknesses.
What is Active Reconnaissance in Cyber Security?
Active reconnaissance in cybersecurity refers to the deliberate and direct probing of a target’s systems or network by an attacker. Unlike passive reconnaissance, active reconnaissance attack involves interacting with the target to gather information, identify vulnerabilities, and assess potential points of entry for a cyber attack.
What are the 3 types of reconnaissance attacks?
Three types of reconnaissance attacks are active reconnaissance, passive reconnaissance, and social engineering. Active reconnaissance involves direct probing of a target’s systems by interacting with them. Passive reconnaissance is the covert collection of data without direct engagement. Lastly, social engineering gathers information by manipulating individuals to divulge sensitive data, often using psychological tactics.
Conclusion
Cyber reconnaissance is an essential part of an attacker’s arsenal. It is widely used as the initial step in gathering critical information on a target network that can be used for both defensive and offensive purposes.
As a cybersecurity expert, you can use cyber reconnaissance to your advantage to spot vulnerabilities and other open points in your infrastructure that can be used to cause your company harm. Reconnaissance in cybersecurity can be a game changer, allowing us to defend ourselves against cyber attacks by using one of the most widely used offensive tools.
