CAPEC-169 Detail

An adversary engages in probing and exploration activities to identify constituents and properties of the target.

Execution Flow

1) Explore

[Request Footprinting] The attacker examines the website information and source code of the website and uses automated tools to get as much information as possible about the system and organization.

Technique

• Open Source Footprinting: Examine the website about the organization and skim through the webpage's HTML source to look for comments.
• Network Enumeration: Perform various queries (Registrar Query, Organizational Query, Domain Query, Network Query, POC Query) on the many whois databases found on the internet to identify domain names and associated networks.
• DNS Interrogation: Once basic information is gathered the attack could begin to query DNS.
• Other Techniques: Use ping sweep, TCP scan, UDP scan, OS Identification various techniques to gain more information about the system and network.

Prerequisites

An application must publicize identifiable information about the system or application through voluntary or involuntary means. Certain identification details of information systems are visible on communication networks (e.g., if an adversary uses a sniffer to inspect the traffic) due to their inherent structure and protocol standards. Any system or network that can be detected can be footprinted. However, some configuration choices may limit the useful information that can be collected during a footprinting attack.

Skills Required

The adversary knows how to send HTTP request, run the scan tool.

Resources Required

The adversary requires a variety of tools to collect information about the target. These include port/network scanners and tools to analyze responses from applications to determine version and configuration information. Footprinting a system adequately may also take a few days if the attacker wishes the footprinting attempt to go undetected.

Mitigations

Keep patches up to date by installing weekly or daily if possible.
Shut down unnecessary services/ports.
Change default passwords by choosing strong passwords.
Curtail unexpected input.
Encrypt and password-protect sensitive data.
Avoid including information that has the potential to identify and compromise your organization's security such as access to business plans, formulas, and proprietary documents.

Related Weaknesses

References

REF-31

Footprinting And The Basics Of Hacking
Manic Velocity.
http://web.textfiles.com/hacking/footprinting.txt

REF-32

Footprint: What Is And How Do You Erase Them
Eddie Sutton.
http://www.infosecwriters.com/text_resources/pdf/Footprinting.pdf

REF-33

Hacking Exposed: Network Security Secrets & Solutions
Stuart McClure, Joel Scambray, George Kurtz.

REF-34

Nmap Network Scanning: The Official Nmap Project Guide to Network Discovery and Security Scanning
Gordon "Fyodor" Lyon.

Submission

Modifications