IS4560 Unit 3 Assignment 1: Information Gathering Plan
IS4560
Unit 3 Assignment 1
Information Gathering Plan
The explosive growth and popularity of the Internet have resulted in thousands of structured query able information sources. Most organizations are familiar with Penetration Testing and other ethical hacking techniques as a means to understanding the current security status of their information system assets. Consequently, much of the focus of research, discussion, and practice, has traditionally been placed upon active probing and exploitation of security vulnerabilities. Since this type of active probing involves interacting with the target, it is often easily identifiable with the analysis of firewall and intrusion detection/prevention device (IDS or IPS) log files.
However, too many organizations fail to identify the potential threats from information unintentionally leaked, freely available over the Internet, and not normally identifiable from standard log file analysis. Most critically, an attacker can passively gather this information without ever coming into direct contact with the organizations servers – thus being essentially undetectable. Very little information has been publicly discussed about arguably one of the least understood, and most significant stages of penetration testing – the process of Passive Information Gathering. This technical paper and information gathering plan reviews the processes and techniques related to the discovery of leaked information. It also includes details on both the significance of the leaked information, and steps organizations should take to halt or limit their exposure to this threat.
There are a number of techniques and processes available when carrying out a Passive Information Gathering exercise. A lot of important information can be passively harvested and subsequently used in a direct attack or to reinforce other attacks targeted at an organization. Depending upon the source, information such as current service patching levels, internal network
Unit 3 Assignment 1
Information Gathering Plan
The explosive growth and popularity of the Internet have resulted in thousands of structured query able information sources. Most organizations are familiar with Penetration Testing and other ethical hacking techniques as a means to understanding the current security status of their information system assets. Consequently, much of the focus of research, discussion, and practice, has traditionally been placed upon active probing and exploitation of security vulnerabilities. Since this type of active probing involves interacting with the target, it is often easily identifiable with the analysis of firewall and intrusion detection/prevention device (IDS or IPS) log files.
However, too many organizations fail to identify the potential threats from information unintentionally leaked, freely available over the Internet, and not normally identifiable from standard log file analysis. Most critically, an attacker can passively gather this information without ever coming into direct contact with the organizations servers – thus being essentially undetectable. Very little information has been publicly discussed about arguably one of the least understood, and most significant stages of penetration testing – the process of Passive Information Gathering. This technical paper and information gathering plan reviews the processes and techniques related to the discovery of leaked information. It also includes details on both the significance of the leaked information, and steps organizations should take to halt or limit their exposure to this threat.
There are a number of techniques and processes available when carrying out a Passive Information Gathering exercise. A lot of important information can be passively harvested and subsequently used in a direct attack or to reinforce other attacks targeted at an organization. Depending upon the source, information such as current service patching levels, internal network