Cyber reconnaissance is the process of learning about targets in preparation to cyberattack them. Reconnaissance involves gathering intelligence on a target’s digital presence, or footprint, with the intention of discovering exploitable weaknesses, identifying exposed assets, unearthing user behaviors, and network topology that can be used to inform a viable exploitation plan.
The meaning of reconnaissance in cybersecurity contexts centers on stealthy observation. Reconnaissance in cybersecurity can be characterized as a passive or active process using multiple tools like scanning an IP range, using publicly available open-source intel, or port probing a target to understand how it has been configured and where it may have weaknesses. Reconnaissance typically precedes aggressiveness that might include exploitation or lateral movement.
The core of cyber reconnaissance is the application of various techniques, such as footprinting (sourcing information about domain names and internet protocol addresses), enumeration (identifying users and shares), and OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence) to supply useful context for internal intelligence to find weaknesses. Sophisticated threat actors, advanced persistent threats (APTs), will take advantage of reconnaissance sophistication to limit focus on and detection of exploitation in order to increase the probability of the attack gaining success.
If defensive planning is in place for security, appropriate cyber reconnaissance defenses could include, but are not limited to, segmentation, restricted access, and detection. If inappropriate cyber reconnaissance is detected early and mitigated efficiently, it will be difficult for the attackers to gain further traction and make progress in their respective projects attacking objectives.
