Jason, a certified ethical hacker, is hired by a major e-commerce company to evaluate their network's security. As part of his reconnaissance, Jason is trying to gain as much information as possible a

Directly connecting and attempting to exploit vulnerabilities is an active and intrusive attack technique that would immediately alert intrusion detection systems.

Passive reconnaissance techniques like WHOIS lookups query public domain registration databases, and NS lookups query public DNS servers for information, without directly interacting with the target's network. This approach minimizes direct engagement with the target, making it extremely difficult for IDSs to detect the activity as an attack.

A DNS zone transfer is an active query directly to the target's DNS server and, if successful by an unauthorized party, is likely to be logged or flagged as suspicious by security systems.

Performing a ping sweep involves sending active network probes to target hosts, generating traffic that intrusion detection systems are designed to identify as scanning activity.