Summary
In this Chapter, you learned the seven steps that compose the preattack phase. These include information gathering, determining the network range, identifying active machines, finding open ports and access points, OS fingerprinting, fingerprinting services, and mapping the network.
This Chapter is an important step for the ethical hacker because at this point, you are attempting to gather enough information to launch an attack. The more information that is gathered here, the better the chance of success. An important part of ethical hacking is documentation. That's why several ways to collect and document your findings are shown. These notes will be useful when you prepare your report. Finally, make sure that the organization has given you written permission before beginning any work, even the reconnaissance.