Certified Ethical Hacker Footprinting and Reconnaissance 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the primary goal of footprinting in ethical hacking?
- Exploit vulnerabilities in the target system
- Gather information about the target to plan an attack (Correct answer)
- Install malware on target systems
- Intercept network traffic
Correct answer: Gather information about the target to plan an attack
Footprinting is the first phase of ethical hacking where information is collected about the target organization to identify potential attack surfaces before any exploitation.
Question 2: Which command-line tool is primarily used for querying DNS records such as MX records to identify a domain's mail servers?
- Nmap
- nslookup (Correct answer)
- Netcat
- Wireshark
Correct answer: nslookup
nslookup is used to query DNS servers and retrieve specific record types including MX records that identify mail servers for a domain.
Question 3: What does OSINT stand for in the context of ethical hacking reconnaissance?
- Operational Security Intelligence
- Open Source Intelligence (Correct answer)
- Online System Integration Technique
- Offensive Security Intrusion Network Testing
Correct answer: Open Source Intelligence
OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) refers to gathering information exclusively from publicly available sources without direct interaction with the target.
Question 4: Which type of footprinting does NOT involve direct interaction with the target system?
- Active footprinting
- Passive footprinting (Correct answer)
- Internal footprinting
- Network footprinting
Correct answer: Passive footprinting
Passive footprinting gathers information through indirect means such as search engines and public databases, leaving no trace on the target's logs.
Question 5: What is the primary purpose of a WHOIS lookup during the footprinting phase?
- Scan open ports on a target system
- Retrieve domain registration and ownership information (Correct answer)
- Capture network packets in transit
- Test for SQL injection vulnerabilities
Correct answer: Retrieve domain registration and ownership information
WHOIS lookup retrieves registration details about a domain including owner contact information, registrar, registration dates, and name servers.
Question 6: Which Google search operator is used to search for specific file types hosted on a target website?
- site:
- inurl:
- filetype: (Correct answer)
- intitle:
Correct answer: filetype:
The 'filetype:' Google dork operator restricts results to specific file extensions (e.g., PDF, XLS, DOC) which may expose sensitive documents.
Question 7: What is Maltego primarily used for during the footprinting and reconnaissance phase?
- Password cracking and hash analysis
- Network packet capture and analysis
- Visual link analysis and open-source intelligence gathering (Correct answer)
- Automated vulnerability scanning
Correct answer: Visual link analysis and open-source intelligence gathering
Maltego is an OSINT and forensics tool that graphically visualizes relationships between entities such as people, organizations, domains, and IP addresses discovered during reconnaissance.
Certified Ethical Hacker Footprinting and Reconnaissance 1
What is the primary goal of footprinting in ethical hacking?