During your reading this week, you learned about the significance of footprinting to hackers. Hackers take everyday information and network tools and distort their purpose to aid in their hacking activities. They compile the information they learn during the footprinting phase to increase the effectiveness of their attacks. Understanding how attackers use these tools is an important first step in mitigating attacks.

Instructions

In this assignment, write a $45$ page paper in which you:

Describe the most common tools used by both malicious and ethical hackers to conduct footprinting.

Identify the tools.

Explain why hackers choose these tools to use.

Describe why ethical hackers explore network information before carrying out an investigation.

Analyze the primary differences between Nslookup and WHOis in assessing domain information.

Explain how an ethical hacker uses the information derived by use of Nslookup and WHOis to mitigate network connectivity issues.

Your assignment must be supported by a minimum of three recent, peer$-$reviewed references. Citations and references must be formatted using current APA style.

Structure your report as follows:

Title page.

Introduction.

The main body $($at least three pages$)$; use headings to identify individual sections.

Summary and conclusion.

References page.

Capella academic integrity standards must be strictly followed.

Submission Requirements

Written communication: Writing should be clear and well organized, with no technical writing errors, as expected of a business professional.

References: Include a minimum of three recent, peer$-$reviewed references. Remember the Undergraduate Information Technology Research Guide

Links to an external site. is there to help you.

APA style: Citations and references must be formatted using current APA style. Visit Evidence and APA Citation

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Length of the report: A minimum of four typed, double$-$spaced pages, excluding the title page and references page.

Font: Times New Roman, $12$ points.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assignment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:

Competency $1$: Perform vulnerability analysis and penetration testing using ethical hacking techniques.

Describe the most common tools used by both malicious and ethical hackers to conduct footprinting.

Analyze the primary differences between Nslookup and WHOis in assessing domain information.

Competency $3$: Analyze packets using sniffing tools.

Describe why ethical hackers explore network information before carrying out an investigation.

Competency $4$: Identify the vulnerabilities of common protocols used in an organization.

Explain how an ethical hacker uses the information derived by use of Nslookup and WHOis to mitigate network connectivity issues.

Competency $6$: Communicate in a manner that is professional and consistent with expectations for members of information technology professions.

Support the report with recent, peer$-$reviewed references.

Communicate in a manner that is professional and consistent with expectations for professionals in the field of information technology.