John works as a professional Ethical Hacker. He has been assigned the project of testing the preattack phase successfully: Information gathering Determination of network range Identification of active

OS fingerprinting is the standard next step after identifying open ports and running applications in the CEH pre-attack methodology. Knowing the target operating system allows the tester to identify OS-specific vulnerabilities and tailor subsequent attack strategies. This step logically bridges service discovery and deeper exploitation planning.

Network mapping corresponds to the 'determination of network range' step, which has already been completed earlier in the described pre-attack sequence.

Fingerprinting services running on the network is a step that follows OS fingerprinting in the methodology, making it premature at this stage of the assessment.

Installing a backdoor is an active attack and post-exploitation activity, not part of the pre-attack reconnaissance phase.