This document discusses techniques for gathering intelligence about a target network or system prior to launching an attack. It covers the main steps of footprinting, scanning, and enumeration. Footprinting involves passive information gathering through tools like DNS queries, network queries, and WHOIS lookups. Scanning actively probes targets to identify live systems and map open ports, services, and operating systems using ping sweeps, port scans, and fingerprinting. Enumeration extracts further details about resources, users, groups, and shares once access is gained. The document provides an overview of various tools used at each stage and strategies for footprinting networks, scanning ports, and enumerating user information.