Reconnaissance Glossary
Browse 13 reconnaissance terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.
13 Reconnaissance Terms
- Account Enumeration
- A technique for discovering whether specific user accounts exist by observing differences in responses, timing, or error messages during login, signup, or...
- Active Scanning
- A discovery technique that sends packets, requests, or probes to hosts and services in order to identify systems, ports, software, or vulnerabilities. It...
- Banner Grabbing
- A reconnaissance technique that collects identifying information from network services by reading banners, headers, or protocol responses. Attackers and...
- Dumpster Diving
- Dumpster Diving is the physical collection of discarded materials to recover sensitive information, credentials, or infrastructure details. Security teams use...
- Fingerprinting
- Fingerprinting is the collection of distinctive characteristics to identify software, devices, browsers, or services with high confidence. Security teams use...
- Network Mapping
- The process of identifying devices, subnets, routes, services, and connectivity relationships across a network. Defenders use network mapping for visibility...
- Nmap
- Nmap (Network Mapper) is a free, open-source tool used for network discovery, security auditing, and port scanning. Created by Gordon Lyon (known as Fyodor)...
- Nmap Scripting Engine
- Nmap Scripting Engine is the Nmap extension framework that runs scripts for discovery, enumeration, and security testing tasks. Security teams use it to...
- Open Source Intelligence
- Open Source Intelligence is the collection and analysis of publicly available information for security, investigation, or threat assessment. Security teams use...
- OSINT
- Open Source Intelligence — the collection and analysis of information from publicly available sources (social media, public records, news, DNS records) for...
- Passive Reconnaissance
- The collection of information about a target without directly interacting with its systems in a way that the target is likely to notice. Passive reconnaissance...
- Port Scanning
- The process of probing network ports to identify exposed services, protocols, and potential attack paths. It shows up in application security, identity,...
- War Dial
- A security term, sometimes used slangily, for systematically calling or probing many targets to find responsive ones. In engineering talk, it also appears...
Related Topics
- Scanning (4 terms in common)
- Osint (1 terms in common)
- Offensive Security (1 terms in common)
- Tool (1 terms in common)
- Intelligence (1 terms in common)
- Physical Security (1 terms in common)
- Investigation (1 terms in common)
- Analysis (1 terms in common)
- Discovery (1 terms in common)
- Social Engineering (1 terms in common)
- Identification (1 terms in common)
- Networks (1 terms in common)
- Abuse (1 terms in common)
- Threat Intel (1 terms in common)
- Attack Surface (1 terms in common)
- Tooling (1 terms in common)
- Service Enumeration (1 terms in common)
- Authentication (1 terms in common)
- Stealth (1 terms in common)
- Analytics (1 terms in common)