OVERVIEW
Passive reconnaissance is the act of gathering information about a target without directly interacting with that target. Its like spying on the target with binoculars or interviewing their acquaintances instead of speaking directly to them. The key is to gather as much information as possible without letting your target know you are gathering information.
In a real-world situation, a hacker will conduct passive reconnaissance to gather information that can be used to formulate an attack against users and systems. Passive recon is typically followed by the scanning and enumerating phase, in which the hacker attempts to actively probe the systems identified during passive recon. Passive recon is also sometimes referred to as open-source-intelligence gathering (OSINT), as it uses publicly available sources to collect intelligence on a target.
In this lab, you will form customized search queries using Googles search operators. With WHOIS queries, you will learn how to query Internet registration authorities about registered domains. In the later parts of the lab, you will use two hacking tools, theHarvester and Maltego to collect and organize information from indexed databases. Finally, you will bypass LinkedIns privacy settings.

In this exercise, you will practice research and writing about a technical topic, for a potential employer someday.  Perform research of each of these items and write a 600 word essay on the following items.  Develop headers and sections as appropriate.  Use 3rd person only.  Provide citations when appropriate, and a proper APA formatted reference in the references section.  In addition to the other references you may use, you are required to have at least 2 scholarly sources (peer reviewed journal articles) and 1 scripture citation (relate the concept applied and/or the impact of the action to your Biblical Worldview).  Do not use the lab instructions or any Liberty documents as your reference.  Add your work below in this template, including headers and references section.  Ensure you cover the following topics (in order).  Questions for each topic are given to prompt your thoughts, answer all of those questions, but dont repeat them.  Feel free to give more content, just be sure to cover these items. Place your essay within this section, remove these instructions when you understand them.

1)    Passive Reconnaissance 
a)    What is passive reconnaissance?
b)    Why do hackers use passive reconnaissance?
c)    Can organizations prevent passive reconnaissance?  Why/How?
d)    What are some of the search operators you can use in a Google search to query results from specific domains, Web sites, or links?
e)    What would be the Google search syntax to search the site exploit-db.com for Firefox exploits?
f)    When using theHarvester, what are command switches -d and -b used for?
g)    In the lab you used Maltego to graphically display what information?
h)    If, while viewing LinkedIn profiles, you notice that a persons name is shown as LinkedIn Member, how might you be able to view their full name?

i)    How does this topic of passive reconnaissance and your understanding of satans attacks relate to your Biblical worldview?

2)    Lab Assignment

a)    What did you learn in this lab that surprised you?
b)    What was your favorite part and why?
c)    What steps did you have issues with, or what challenges did you have?
d)    What would you change in the lab, if anything?