Heimdallr Solutions have carried out security audits world-wide and will explain why and how hostile reconnaissance is conducted and the principles of how to disrupt threats during the reconnaissance phase, along with practical measures on how to reduce the vulnerability of a site.

 

Hostile reconnaissance is the term given to the information gathering phase by those individuals or groups with malicious intent, it is a vital component of any attack planning process.

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Information about a site or event is gained by using online research, on-site visits and if and where necessary, social engineering and insider knowledge. The hostile will try to obtain enough detailed information and get sufficient certainty about the reliability of this information to inform their method of attack to be sure of success.

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You cannot spot an attacker from their appearance, age, ethnicity, gender or clothing. 

 

You, your staff can however identify and report suspicious behaviour.

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Always remember stopping an attack before it can be carried out will save reputation, data, money and in some cases life. Can you afford not to have a business health check?

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Are your staff open to social engineering, do they understand how it works?

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CPNI defines hostile reconnaissance as “Purposeful observation with the intention of collecting information to inform the planning of a hostile act against a specific target.”  Generally, the more sophisticated the attack the more complex the attack planning, and consequently the greater the information requirement and reconnaissance need.

 

The key to disruption comes from understanding the information hostiles need, and where they are going to have to go to get this and their state of mind. This, in turn, is dependent on understanding the threats in a way that enables prediction of likely attack scenarios. 

 

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