Bug Bounty Hunting 101: 10 Must-Do Steps to Target Reconnaissance

Website reconnaissance, also known as “recon”, is an essential step in the process of finding vulnerabilities and exploiting them in a bug bounty program. Recon allows you to gather information about a target website and its infrastructure, to identify potential vulnerabilities and to understand how to exploit them. In this article, we’ll go over 10 must-do steps in target reconnaissance that can help you uncover the secrets of a website.

Step 1: Domain Enumeration. Gather all subdomains and IP addresses associated with the target website. Tools such as Sublist3r, knockpy, and theharvester can help you do this quickly and easily. By identifying all subdomains, you may be able to find hidden pages or directories that could contain sensitive information.

Step 2: Whois Lookup. Check the WHOIS records of the target website to gather information on the registrant and administrator of the website. This can reveal contact information, location, and other details that may be useful in further reconnaissance.

Step 3: SSL/TLS Analysis. Check for SSL/TLS vulnerabilities and examine the validity and expiration of the SSL certificate. Tools such as sslscan, openssl, and sslyze can help you do this.