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.

Step 4: Robots.txt Analysis. Inspect the target website's robots.txt file for any publicly disclosed directories or files that could lead to sensitive information. This can reveal pages that the website administrator does not want to be indexed by search engines.

Step 5: Content Discovery. Use tools such as dirb, gobuster, and dirbuster to discover hidden content on the target website. These tools can help you find pages that are not linked from the homepage or sitemap, which could contain valuable information.

Step 6: Sitemap Analysis. Check the target website's sitemap file to gather information on the structure of the website and any hidden content or pages. This can reveal sections of the website that the administrator wants to be indexed, but are not linked from the homepage.

Step 7: Wayback Machine. Check the target website's historical records on the Wayback Machine to identify changes to the website over time and potential vulnerabilities that might have been fixed. This can provide insight into how the website has evolved and where potential vulnerabilities may lie.

Step 8: Third-Party Services. Check for any third-party services that the target website might be using, such as Google Analytics, and try to find any vulnerabilities in those services that could be leveraged to attack the target website. This can reveal attack vectors that would not be visible from just looking at the target website itself.

Step 9: Network Mapping. Map out the target website's network infrastructure by using tools such as nmap and masscan. This can help you identify open ports and services, as well as gather information on the underlying network. This can help you identify potential vulnerabilities or attack vectors that are not visible from just looking at the website itself.

Step 10 : Search Engine Recon. Utilize the search engines to find information about the target, this will give you an idea of the target's presence over the internet, it can also help to find hidden data and sensitive information.

Website reconnaissance is an essential step in the process of identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities in a bug bounty program. By following these 10 must-do steps, you can uncover the secrets of a website and identify potential vulnerabilities that can be exploited. Remember that the key to success in website reconnaissance is to stay informed and to focus on the facts. With the right tools and techniques, you can become a successful bug hunter.

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