A cyber hacker's toolkit: reconnaissance

The best way to understand how a cyber attack occurs is to see one in action.

In this video, Dr Nick Patterson demonstrates the back-end mechanics of how attacks like the Panama Papers hack are accomplished.

The simulation is set up in a mock environment to mimic what might have happened in this case and shows you how hackers do their reconnaissance by searching for vulnerabilities. The use of these tools and techniques to access web servers you do not control is of course illegal and this video shows a part of the process as an educational tool to help you think more carefully about guarding your systems.

Your task

Watch the video and share your observations on how hackers can find out information about your systems.