Weeks 3 & 4: Diving Deeper into Recon, Enumeration, and Networking

The past two weeks have been a mix of challenges and progress. In Week 3, I explored Active Reconnaissance, Enumeration, and Social Engineering Attacks, while Week 4 was a bit slow due to university resumption. However, I focused on Networking Fundamentals and Web Application Exploitation to strengthen my understanding before moving forward.

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Week 3: Active Reconnaissance & Enumeration

In Week 2, I stopped at Passive Reconnaissance—gathering intel without directly interacting with the target. Week 3 took things further with Active Reconnaissance, where I began directly probing systems for vulnerabilities. This was my first deep dive into Nmap scanning techniques:

🔎 Nmap Scanning Techniques

🔹 SYN Scan (-sS) – Checks for open TCP ports by sending SYN packets. 🔹 TCP Connect Scan (-sT) – Default scan that establishes a full TCP connection. 🔹 UDP Scan (-sU) – Probes UDP ports, useful for scanning DNS, SNMP, DHCP servers. 🔹 TCP FIN Scan (-sF) – Attempts to bypass firewalls by sending FIN packets. 🔹 Host Discovery Scan (-sn) – Identifies live hosts on a network. 🔹 Timing Options (-T0 to -T5) – Adjusts scan aggressiveness (stealthy to aggressive).

Beyond scanning, I also learned Enumeration Techniques, crucial for uncovering system details:

🔍 Enumeration Techniques

✅ Host Enumeration – Identifying active devices. ✅ User & Group Enumeration – Extracting system users and groups. ✅ Network Share Enumeration – Finding shared resources on networks. ✅ Web Application Enumeration – Discovering site structure, directories, and subdomains. ✅ Service Enumeration – Finding running services, open ports, and vulnerabilities. ✅ Packet Crafting for Enumeration – Customizing network packets to probe systems stealthily.

🛡️ Analyzing Vulnerabilities

To make sense of scan results, I explored vulnerability databases like:

• US-CERT

• NIST

• CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures)

• CWE (Common Weakness Enumeration)

• CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System)

I learned how to determine if a vulnerability is worth reporting or exploiting based on severity, risk, and impact.

🎭 Social Engineering Attacks

To complement technical reconnaissance, I explored Social Engineering tactics:

🔹 Phishing (Email, Spear Phishing, Whaling, Vishing, SMS phishing) 🔹 Pretexting & Impersonation 🔹 Watering Hole Attacks 🔹 Physical Attacks (Tailgating, Dumpster Diving, Shoulder Surfing, Badge Cloning)

I also performed hands-on labs to test scanning, enumeration, and phishing techniques in controlled environments.

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Week 4: Networking & Web Exploitation

With university resuming, my schedule got tighter, but I focused on Networking Basics to strengthen my foundation before diving deeper into Wi-Fi and network-based exploitation.

🌐 Networking Fundamentals

✅ OSI Model & Data Transmission ✅ Network Addresses & CIDR Notation ✅ Hubs, Switches, and ARP ✅ Routers & Setting up SOHO Networks ✅ VPNs & Secure Tunneling ✅ Essential Networking Commands for Troubleshooting

Additionally, I covered Remote Support & Administration:

🔹 SSH (Secure Shell) – Remote access to Linux servers. 🔹 RDP & VNC – Remote desktop management for Windows & Linux. 🔹 Third-Party Remote Support Tools – Best practices for secure remote connections. 🔹 Phone Support Tips & Tricks – Handling technical issues over calls.

💻 Web Application Exploitation & Bug Bounty Hunting

As I began exploring Web App Exploitation, I decided to strengthen my approach by studying Bug Bounty Hunting. To aid my learning, I added the book "Bug Bounty Bootcamp" to my resources. My focus includes:

🔹 Web Reconnaissance & Subdomain Enumeration 🔹 Finding Security Misconfigurations 🔹 Identifying Common Web Vulnerabilities (XSS, SQL Injection, CSRF, etc.) 🔹 Analyzing Web Requests & Responses 🔹 Automating Web Scans with Burp Suite & Nikto

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Next Steps 🚀

✔️ Complete Networking & Security in TCM’s Practical Help Desk Course.
✔️ Dive deeper into Wi-Fi & Network Exploitation after mastering networking.
✔️ Progress in Web Application Security & Bug Bounty Hunting.
✔️ Continue performing practical labs & CTF challenges.