Unveiling the Red Team Arsenal: Reconnaissance Tactics — Red Teaming Toolkit Series (Part 1)

In the dynamic realm of cybersecurity, the efficacy of a Red Team often rests on the tools at their disposal. Welcome to the first installment of our “Red Teaming Toolkit” blog series, where we embark on a journey through a curated selection of powerful tools that empower ethical hackers and security professionals alike. In this initial blog, we explore a diverse array of tools designed for various purposes, from payload creation and evasion to offensive VBA and beyond.

Reconnaissance:

Reconnaissance, often abbreviated as “recon,” is the process of actively gathering information and intelligence about a target, typically to plan and execute a successful operation. In the context of cybersecurity and red teaming, reconnaissance is a crucial phase that involves collecting data about a target system, network, or organization to identify vulnerabilities, potential attack vectors, and overall security posture.

There are two main types of reconnaissance:

1. Passive Reconnaissance:

• Involves collecting information without directly interacting with the target.
• Utilizes publicly available sources and information, such as WHOIS databases, public records, social media, and other open-source intelligence (OSINT) methods.
• Aimed at understanding the target’s online presence, domain names, IP addresses, and other publicly accessible details.

2. Active Reconnaissance:

• Involves actively engaging with the target to gather more specific and detailed information.
• Can include activities like network scanning, port scanning, vulnerability scanning, and probing for weaknesses.
• Aimed at identifying potential vulnerabilities and attack vectors that could be exploited during the later stages of an operation.

Tools Reconnaissance:

1. RustScan

• Description: The Modern Port Scanner. Find ports quickly (3 seconds at its fastest). Run scripts through our scripting engine (Python, Lua, Shell supported).
• URL: GitHub

2. Amass

• Description: In-depth Attack Surface Mapping and Asset Discovery
• URL: GitHub

3. gitleaks

• Description: Gitleaks is a SAST tool for detecting hard coded secrets like passwords, API keys, and tokens in git repos.
• URL: GitHub

3. S3Scanner

• Description: Scan for open S3 buckets and dump the contents
• URL: GitHub

4. cloud_enum

• Description: Multi-cloud OSINT tool. Enumerate public resources in AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud.
• URL: GitHub

5. Recon-ng

• Description: Open Source Intelligence gathering tool aimed at reducing the time spent harvesting information from open sources.
• URL: GitHub

6. Buster

• Description: An advanced tool for email reconnaissance
• URL: GitHub

7. linkedin2username

• Description: OSINT Tool: Generate username lists for companies on LinkedIn
• URL: GitHub

8. WitnessMe

• Description: Web Inventory tool, takes screenshots of webpages using Pyppeteer (headless Chrome/Chromium) and provides some extra bells & whistles to make life easier.
• URL: GitHub

9. pagodo

• Description: pagodo (Passive Google Dork) — Automate Google Hacking Database scraping and searching
• URL: GitHub

10. AttackSurfaceMapper

• Description: AttackSurfaceMapper is a tool that aims to automate the reconnaissance process.
• URL: GitHub

11. SpiderFoot

• Description: SpiderFoot is an open-source intelligence (OSINT) automation tool. It integrates with just about every data source available and utilizes a range of methods for data analysis, making that data easy to navigate.
• URL: GitHub

12. dnscan

• Description: dnscan is a python wordlist-based DNS subdomain scanner.
• URL: GitHub

13. spoofcheck

• Description: A program that checks if a domain can be spoofed from. The program checks SPF and DMARC records for weak configurations that allow spoofing.
• URL: GitHub

14. LinkedInt

• Description: LinkedIn Recon Tool
• URL: GitHub

😍 Show your support

We appreciate you taking the time to read this. If you liked what we wrote, please subscribe to our blog and give us a thumbs up. Please share your thoughts on this story in the comments section.

📌 Link up with us on Instagram, Linkedin, YouTube, and Telegram.