Ethical Hacking Methodology

Core Workflow

Phase 1: Understanding Hacker Types

Classification of security professionals:

White Hat Hackers (Ethical Hackers)

• Authorized security professionals
• Conduct penetration testing with permission
• Goal: Identify and fix vulnerabilities
• Also known as: penetration testers, security consultants

Black Hat Hackers (Malicious)

• Unauthorized system intrusions
• Motivated by profit, revenge, or notoriety
• Goal: Steal data, cause damage
• Also known as: crackers, criminal hackers

Grey Hat Hackers (Hybrid)

• May cross ethical boundaries
• Not malicious but may break rules
• Often disclose vulnerabilities publicly
• Mixed motivations

Other Classifications

• Script Kiddies: Use pre-made tools without understanding
• Hacktivists: Politically or socially motivated
• Nation State: Government-sponsored operatives
• Coders: Develop tools and exploits

Phase 2: Reconnaissance

Gather information without direct system interaction:

Passive Reconnaissance

# WHOIS lookup
whois target.com

# DNS enumeration
nslookup target.com
dig target.com ANY
dig target.com MX
dig target.com NS

# Subdomain discovery
dnsrecon -d target.com

# Email harvesting
theHarvester -d target.com -b all

Google Hacking (OSINT)

# Find exposed files