Maria works as a professional Ethical Hacker. She has been assigned the project of testing the Inc. In which of the following steps of malicious hacking does dumpster diving come under?

Multi-factor authentication is a security control requiring multiple verification methods for login; it is not a phase or technique in the hacking methodology.

Role-based access control is an authorization model that assigns permissions based on user roles; it is a defensive security concept, not a hacking phase.

Mutual authentication is a security mechanism where both parties verify each other's identity; it is an authentication protocol feature, not a step in the hacking process.

Reconnaissance is the first phase of ethical hacking where an attacker or tester collects information about the target without actively engaging its systems. Dumpster diving involves physically searching through discarded materials such as printed documents, manuals, or storage media to gather sensitive information, which is a classic non-intrusive reconnaissance technique. It belongs to passive reconnaissance because it does not directly interact with the target's network or systems.