An attacker engages in probing and exploration activity to identify
						constituents and properties of the target. Footprinting is a general term to
						describe a variety of information gathering techniques, often used by
						attackers in preparation for some attack. It consists of using tools to
						learn as much as possible about the composition, configuration, and security
						mechanisms of the targeted network. Information that might be collected
						during a footprinting effort could include open ports, applications and
						their versions, network topology, and similar information. While
						footprinting is not intended to be damaging (although certain activities,
						such as network scans, can sometimes cause disruptions to vulnerable
						applications inadvertently) it may often pave the way for more damaging
						attacks.