The intelligence gathering stage is when the pentester searches for all available information about the organization from public sources. At the end of this phase, he will have a clear view of the network (domain name, IP ranges, TCP/UDP services, and authentication mechanisms), the systems (user/group names, system banners, and system architecture), and organizational information (employee details, press releases, and location). It depends on the type of pentesting (black, white, or gray). Implementing a good intelligence gathering methodology will facilitate the work in later steps.
The fuel of intelligence gathering is to get publicly available information from different sources. Intelligence gathering is not important ...
