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Information Gathering
OSCP · Chapter 3

Information Gathering

Information gathering (recon) is the foundation of every real engagement: the more accurately you map hosts, services and technology, the fewer exploits you waste time on. It splits into passive (no traffic sent to the target) and active (direct interaction) techniques.

Key concepts

  • Passive: WHOIS, DNS records, certificate transparency logs (crt.sh), search engine dorking, LinkedIn/job postings for tech stack hints.
  • Active: port scanning, banner grabbing, and directory/vhost brute-forcing — always only against systems you are authorized to test.
  • Keep structured notes per host (open ports, versions, credentials found) — OSCP-style engagements live or die on organized notes.
  • Correlate service versions against known CVEs early; do not jump straight to exploitation before you understand what is actually running.

Example

# Passive DNS + subdomain recon
curl -s "https://crt.sh/?q=%25.example.com&output=json" | jq -r '.[].name_value' | sort -u

Try it yourself

Pick a domain you control (or a deliberately vulnerable lab like TryHackMe) and build a recon note: DNS records, discovered subdomains, and any technology fingerprints from response headers.

@ Daniel Burlacu