GPEN · Question #44
John works as a contract Ethical Hacker. He has recently got a project to do security checking for in the information gathering step. Which of the following commands will he use to accomplish the task
The correct answer is B. nmap -v -O 208.100.2.25. The nmap command with the -O flag performs OS fingerprinting and is a standard information-gathering technique. Plain netcat connections to individual ports do not provide systematic host enumeration.
Question
John works as a contract Ethical Hacker. He has recently got a project to do security checking for in the information gathering step. Which of the following commands will he use to accomplish the task? Each correct answer represents a complete solution. Choose two.
Options
- Anc 208.100.2.25 23
- Bnmap -v -O 208.100.2.25
- Cnc -v -n 208.100.2.25 80
How the community answered
(35 responses)- A9% (3)
- B71% (25)
- C20% (7)
Why each option
The nmap command with the -O flag performs OS fingerprinting and is a standard information-gathering technique. Plain netcat connections to individual ports do not provide systematic host enumeration.
The command 'nc 208.100.2.25 23' opens a raw TCP connection to the Telnet port only and does not enumerate ports, fingerprint the OS, or gather broader host information.
The command 'nmap -v -O 208.100.2.25' performs a verbose OS fingerprinting scan against the target, identifying the operating system type, version, and open services through TCP/IP stack analysis. This yields structured host intelligence - OS identity, open ports, and service versions - which is the primary goal of the information-gathering phase in a security assessment.
The command 'nc -v -n 208.100.2.25 80' connects only to HTTP port 80 and at most retrieves a single service banner, providing no OS-level fingerprinting or multi-port enumeration needed for comprehensive information gathering.
Concept tested: Nmap OS detection for network information gathering
Source: https://nmap.org/book/man-os-detection.html
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