The following are the tasks to be performed prior to, and during, the information-gathering phase:

1. Get legal permission.
2. Define the scope of the penetration test.
3. Perform information gathering using search engines.
4. Perform Google hacking techniques.
5. Perform information gathering using social networking websites.
6. Perform website footprinting.
7. Perform WHOIS information gathering.
8. Perform DNS information gathering.
9. Perform network information gathering.
10. Perform social engineering.

In the next section, we will take a look at a checklist for network scanning.