The kind of testing in which activities are performed to find the active machines, open ports and available services, identifying the OS and mapping the network
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Passive Scanning
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Social Engineering
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Scanning
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Fuzzing
To solve this question, the user needs to know the different types of testing techniques used in cybersecurity. The user must identify the type of testing in which activities are performed to find active machines, open ports, available services, identifying the OS, and mapping the network.
Now, let's go through each option and explain why it is right or wrong:
A. Passive Scanning: This option is incorrect because passive scanning is a type of testing in which the tester monitors network traffic and collects data without actively engaging with the network.
B. Social Engineering: This option is incorrect because social engineering is a type of attack that exploits human behavior to gain access to systems or information.
C. Scanning: This option is correct. Scanning is a type of testing that involves actively probing a network to identify active machines, open ports, available services, identifying the OS, and mapping the network.
D. Fuzzing: This option is incorrect because fuzzing is a type of testing that involves sending random or invalid data to a system to identify vulnerabilities.
The Answer is: C
'Scanning' is the reconnaissance phase of penetration testing/ethical hacking where the tester actively probes the target network to discover live hosts, open ports, running services, and the operating system (via tools like Nmap), and builds a network map — exactly the activities described. Passive scanning specifically avoids direct interaction with the target (it gathers info without touching it, e.g. via public records or sniffing), so it doesn't fit 'finding active machines/open ports' which requires active probes. Social engineering manipulates people, not systems/networks. Fuzzing sends malformed input to find crashes/vulnerabilities in an application, unrelated to network/port discovery.