What is the pre-attack phase in which an intruder gathers information about a system’s OS, applications, and services, also known as Footprinting?

• A. Fingerprinting
• B. Reconnaissance
• C. Scanning
• D. Spoofing

Answer: (A)

In this pre-attack information-gathering stage, the attacker is building a detailed picture of the target by identifying the exact operating system, the applications running, and the services exposed. This is fingerprinting—the process of collecting and analyzing responses, banners, service versions, and other characteristics to create a precise “fingerprint” of the target’s software stack. This knowledge lets the attacker tailor exploits to the specific OS and versions in use. It sits under footprinting or reconnaissance as the broad activity, but fingerprinting focuses specifically on pinning down OS, application, and service details. The other terms don’t fit as well: reconnaissance is the overall information-gathering phase, scanning refers to locating live hosts and open ports, and spoofing involves deceiving defenders rather than gathering system details.