The Information We Seek

Whether you are performing a penetration test, conducting an investigation, or are skilled attackers closing in on a target, information gathering is the foundation that is needed to carry out the assessment. Having the right information paves the way for proper enumeration and simplifies attack strategies against a given target. Throughout this paper, we will walk through some strategies used to identify information on both people and networks. Some people claim that all data can be found using Google's search engine; but can third party tools found in Linux security distributions such as Kali Linux outperform the search engine giant? Maltego and The Harvester yield a wealth of information, but will the results be enough to identify a target? The right tool for the right job is essential when working with any project in life. Let's take a journey through the information gathering process to determine if there is a one size fits all tool, or if a multi-tool approach is needed to gather the essential information on a given target. We will compare and contrast many of the industry tools to determine the proper tool or tools needed to perform an adequate information gathering assessment.