Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH v12) — Question 105

Hackers often raise the trust level of a phishing message by modeling the email to look similar to the internal email used by the target company. This includes using logos, formatting, and names of the target company. The phishing message will often use the name of the company CEO, President, or Managers. The time a hacker spends performing research to locate this information about a company is known as?

Answer options

• A. Exploration
• B. Investigation
• C. Reconnaissance
• D. Enumeration

Correct answer: C

Explanation

The correct answer is 'Reconnaissance' as it specifically refers to the phase where hackers gather intelligence about their target, including organizational structure and key personnel. 'Exploration' and 'Investigation' do not accurately describe the systematic information-gathering process in this context, while 'Enumeration' typically refers to identifying active services or resources, not overall research.