> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://notes.drngd0tter.red/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://notes.drngd0tter.red/hacking-methodology/penetration-testing-process/information-gathering.md).

# Information Gathering

## Information Gathering

* Essential part of any security assessment
* Gather all available information about the company, its employees, infrastructure, and how they're organized
* The most frequent and vital phase throughout the whole process
* All the steps for exploit are based on the information gathered during this phase
* 4 Main Categories:
  * Open Source Intelligence (OSINT)
  * Infrastructure Enumeration
  * Service Enumeration
  * Host Enumeration
* All four categories should, and **must**, be performed

### Open Source Intelligence

* Finding publicly available information online
* Possible to find passwords, hashes, keys, tokens, etc.
  * Repos on GitHub, GitLab, etc.

### Infrastructure Enumeration