The same as any other successful endeavor, ethical hacking comprises a set of discrete phases. Making a planned ethical hacking attack aids hackers.
The process of ethical hacking is described in various ways in security training manuals, but in my experience as a Certified Ethical Hacker, the process can be divided into the following six phases.
Reconnaissance
Attackers can use active or passive methods to gather information about their target during the reconnaissance phase. NMAP, Hping, Maltego, and Google Dorks are some of the tools that are frequently used in this process.
Scanning
During this phase, the attacker starts actively scanning the target computer or network for exploitable security flaws. Nessus, Nexpose, and NMAP are the tools used in this process.
Gaining Access
The vulnerability is identified during this process, and you try to exploit it to gain access to the system. Metasploit is the main tool employed in this procedure.
Maintaining Access
It is the action taken once a hacker has already accessed a system. After obtaining entry, the hacker installs a few backdoors so he can return to the system in the future if he needs access to this owned machine. The preferred tool for this process is Metasploit.
Clearing Tracks
Actually, this procedure is an unethical act. It has to do with the removal of logs documenting all of the hacking process’s activities.
Reporting
The final step in the ethical hacking procedure is reporting. Here, the ethical hacker puts together a report with his findings and the work completed, including the tools used, the rate of success, the vulnerabilities discovered, and the exploit procedures.