Intelligence Gathering

General

This section defines the Intelligence Gathering activities of a penetration test.

Intelligence Gathering

   What is it?
       Intelligence Gathering is performing reconnaissance against a target to gather as much information as possible to be utilized when penetrating the target during the vulnerability assessment and exploitation phases. The more information you are able to gather during this phase, the more vectors of attack you may be able to use in the future.
       Open source intelligence (OSINT) is a form of intelligence collection management that involves finding, selecting, and acquiring information from publicly available sources and analyzing it to produce actionable intelligence. [1]
   Why do it
       We perform Open Source Intelligence gathering to determine various entry points into an organization. These entry points can be physical, electronic, and/or human.  Many companies fail to take into account what information about themselves they place in public and how this information can be used by a determined attacker. On top of that many employees fail to take into account what information they place about themselves in public and how that information can be used to to attack them or their employer.  
   What is it not? (more important.)
   Purpose of this document
       Provide a (living?) document designed specifically for the pentester performing reconnaissance against a target (typically corporate, military, or related). The document details the thought process and goals of pentesting reconnaissance, and when used properly, helps the reader to produce a highly strategic plan for attacking a target.