Different techniques of footprinting and how they can be used as a baseline for other stages of hacking

Web Search: Scan the web for:
· Phone Numbers, Contact Names, electronic mail Addresses, and individual Details
· Current Events
· Mergers, scandals, layoffs, etc. create security holes
· Privacy or Security Policies, and Technical Details Indicating the Types of Security Mechanisms in Place
· Extract data from Usenet
· Review Groups.google.com
· Search for Employee Resumes
· Perform Google Hacking


Whois is a database that holds registration records of whole available domain names. Holds thrall information on each internet web site, containing domain name, company name and its destination, administrator name, administrator contact data, technical contact data, and when the name was registered. The Whois customer is accessible by default on UNIX/LINUX based system and essential to be downloaded for the windows OS. Armed with this data an individual could go to the yellow pages and find more about the WWW site.

Traceroute essentially does what its name means. It traces the packet and reads the route in which it takes. It is commonly used to detect network troubles.

NSLookup admits us to query the DNS database from whatever computer on the network. This may also be used to determine which computers are with the network and what are there uses in the network infrastructure. It is as well used to exhibits all current TCP/UDP connections, and to list the routing table which are significant to decide the activities the OS has been doing.