#MrW0r57 The five Stages of Pentesting or Ethical Hacking is a module that summarizes what the rest of the ethical hacker class is going to look like. The five Stages refer to each primary step in the process of operating a penetration test, and the concept is critical for a new entrant into the field. Here is a brief overview of the five stages of Penetration testing: Stage 1 | Reconnaissance(Gathering Information) Reconnaissance or Recon is the act of gathering preliminary data or intelligence on your target. The data is gathered in order to better plan for your attack. Reconnaissance can be performed actively (meaning that you are directly touching the target) or passively (meaning that your recon is being performed through an intermediary). Stage 2 | Scanning The stage of scanning requires the application of technical tools to gather further intelligence on your target, but in this case, the intel being sought is more commonly about the systems that they have in place. A...