Footprinting and Reconnaissance (December 2025)

This course provides a solid foundation in Kali Linux, Ethical Hacking, Footprinting, and Reconnaissance, equipping learners with essential skills required for penetration testing and cybersecurity operations. It is designed for beginners and intermediate learners who want to understand how attackers gather information and how defenders can secure systems effectively.

The course begins with Kali Linux Fundamentals, where students gain hands-on experience with the world’s most popular penetration testing distribution. Topics include Linux command-line usage, file and directory permissions, user management, software installation, network configuration, and understanding critical system files. By the end of this module, learners will be comfortable navigating Linux environments and performing day-to-day security tasks.

Next, the course explores the core concepts of Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing, covering hacker classifications, hacking methodologies, vulnerability analysis, penetration testing frameworks, security policies, and risk management. Learners will understand how attacks happen, how organizations defend themselves, and how systematic security assessments are performed.

The final module focuses on Footprinting and Reconnaissance, one of the first phases of ethical hacking. Students learn how to gather publicly available information about a target using search engines, social networks, DNS records, WHOIS databases, job sites, email headers, and network tools. This module includes hands-on exposure to tools such as Maltego, Domain Name Analyzer Pro, Web Data Extractor, traceroute utilities, and Google hacking techniques. Learners will understand how attackers build extensive profiles of targets and how organizations can detect and mitigate such reconnaissance activities.

By the end of this course, students will have a clear understanding of:

– How Kali Linux works and how to use it for cybersecurity tasks
– Key concepts of hacking, threats, vulnerabilities, and security policies
– How penetration testers plan, execute, and document security assessments
– Techniques and tools used to gather intelligence during reconnaissance

Module 01: Kali Linux Fundamentals

1. Introduction to Kali Linux

– Kali Linux history and introduction
– Kali Linux GUI desktops

2. Working with Kali Linux Commands

– Basic and advanced Kali Linux commands
– Tar and zip operations
– Compiling programs

3. Software & Package Management

– Identifying software packages
– Installing and removing software

4. User & Account Management

– User account management
– Changing a user account password
– `passwd` & `shadow` file formats

5. File & Directory Permissions

– File permissions
– Directory permissions
– Octal representation
– Changing permissions
– Setting default permissions

6. Networking Fundamentals

– Internet addressing
– Network services
– Commonly available services
– Fundamental network configuration files
– Network control scripts

Module 02: Introduction to Penetration Testing & Ethical Hacking

1. Hacking Concepts

– Introduction to Hacking
– Hacking vs. Ethical Hacking
– Effects of Hacking on Business
– Who is a Hacker?
– Hacker classes
– Hacktivism

2. Hacking Methodology

– Hacking phases
– Defense in depth

3. Vulnerability Assessment & Penetration Testing

– Vulnerabilities
– Vulnerability research
– Vulnerability research websites
– What is penetration testing?
– Why penetration testing?
– Penetration testing methodology

4. Security Policies

– Security policies
– Types of security policies
– Steps to create and implement security policies

5. Disaster Recovery & Risk Management

– Defining risk management
– Strategies for managing risk
– How to analyze risk
– Disaster recovery strategies
– Plan testing and execution

Module 03: Footprinting and Reconnaissance

1. Footprinting Concepts & Methodology

– Footprinting terminology
– What is footprinting?
– Why footprinting?
– Objectives of footprinting
– Footprinting threats

2. Footprinting Using Search Engines

– Finding company’s external and internal URLs
– Public and restricted websites
– Collect location information
– People search
– People search online services
– People search via social networking services
– Gathering information from financial services
– Footprinting through job sites
– Monitoring target using alerts

3. Website Footprinting

– Mirroring entire website
– Website mirroring tools
– Extracting website information from Archive.org
– Monitoring web updates using Website Watcher

4. Email Footprinting

– Tracking email communications
– Collecting information from email header
– Email tracking tools

5. Footprinting Using Google

– Google hacking techniques
– What a hacker can do with Google hacking
– Advanced Google search operators
– Finding resources using advanced operators
– Google hacking tools

6. WHOIS Footprinting

– WHOIS lookup
– WHOIS lookup result analysis
– WHOIS lookup tools
– WHOIS online tools

7. DNS Footprinting

– Extracting DNS information
– DNS interrogation tools
– `nslookup`
– `dig` for Linux/Unix

8. Network Footprinting

– Locating network range
– Determining operating system
– Traceroute
– Traceroute analysis
– Traceroute tools

9. Footprinting Using Social Engineering

– Footprinting via social engineering
– Collecting information using eavesdropping, shoulder surfing, and dumpster diving
– Gathering information from social networking sites through social engineering

10. Footprinting Using Social Networking Sites

– Collecting Facebook information
– Collecting Twitter information
– Collecting LinkedIn information
– Collecting YouTube information
– Tracking users on social networking sites

11. Footprinting Tools

– Maltego
– Domain Name Analyzer Pro
– Web Data Extractor
– Additional footprinting tools