active reconnaissance


(ak´tiv ri-kon´&-zents) (n.) The process of collecting information about an intended target of a malicious hack by probing the target system. Active reconnaissance typically involves port scanning in order to find weaknesses in the target system (i.e., which ports are left vulnerable and/or if there are ways around the firewall and routers). The process of exploiting the system can then be carried out once the hacker has found a way to access the system.

Compare with passive reconnaissance.

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