Information gathering, also known as reconnaissance, is the first and most important stage in successful penetration testing. It is the process of learning about our target and gathering specific information about it so that we might exploit it in the future. The more helpful information you have on a target, the more likely you are to discover vulnerabilities and more severe issues in the target by exploiting them. The Penetration Tester or Ethical Hacker may not know what to target if no information is gathered. Furthermore, it is vital to perform a vulnerability scan. It evaluates the potential for cybercriminals to exploit security vulnerabilities in IT systems, internal and external networks, communications equipment, and other related resources. CompTIA PenTest+ delves into the information gathering and vulnerability scanning phase of penetration testing in domain 2.

Domains of CompTIA PenTest+: