312-85

The EC-Council 312-85 exam, Certified Ethical Hacking (CEH) v12, covers a broad range of cybersecurity topics. The main points can be grouped into these key areas:

1. Reconnaissance & Footprinting: This section focuses on gathering information about a target system or network before attempting any attack. Key concepts include:

• Passive vs. Active Reconnaissance: Understanding the differences and appropriate use cases.
• Footprinting Techniques: Using various tools and techniques to gather information from publicly available sources (e.g., WHOIS, DNS lookups, Shodan) as well as active scanning (e.g., ping sweeps, port scans).
• Network Mapping: Identifying the structure and topology of a network.

2. Scanning & Enumeration: This involves actively probing a target system to identify vulnerabilities and gather more detailed information. Key concepts include:

• Port Scanning: Identifying open ports and services running on a system. (e.g., Nmap)
• Vulnerability Scanning: Using tools to automatically discover known vulnerabilities (e.g., Nessus, OpenVAS).
• Operating System Detection: Identifying the operating system running on a target system.
• Service and Application Discovery: Identifying specific services and applications running on a system and their versions.

3. System Hacking: This focuses on exploiting vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to a system. Key concepts include:

• Exploit Development and Delivery: Understanding how exploits work and how to deliver them (e.g., buffer overflows, SQL injection).
• Password Cracking: Techniques for cracking passwords (e.g., brute force, dictionary attacks).
• Privilege Escalation: Gaining higher-level access to a system after initial compromise.

4. Malware Threats: Understanding various types of malware and how they work. Key concepts include:

• Viruses, Worms, Trojans, Ransomware, Spyware: Their characteristics, propagation methods, and impact.
• Malware Analysis: Techniques for analyzing malware to understand its behavior.

5. Sniffing & Eavesdropping: Intercepting network traffic to gather sensitive information. Key concepts include:

• Network Sniffing: Using tools like Wireshark to capture network packets.
• ARP Poisoning: Manipulating ARP tables to redirect network traffic.
• Session Hijacking: Taking over an existing network session.

6. Social Engineering: Manipulating individuals to gain access to systems or information. Key concepts include:

• Phishing, Baiting, Pretexting, Quid Pro Quo: Various social engineering techniques.
• Human factors in security vulnerabilities.

7. Denial-of-Service (DoS) & Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attacks: Overwhelming a system or network to make it unavailable. Key concepts include:

• Different types of DoS/DDoS attacks and how they work.
• Mitigation techniques .

8. Hacking Wireless Networks: Attacking wireless networks to gain unauthorized access. Key concepts include:

• Wireless Security protocols (WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPA3).
• Wireless attacks (e.g., wardriving, cracking WEP/WPA).

9. Intrusion Detection/Prevention Systems (IDS/IPS): Understanding how these systems work and how to bypass them (ethically).

10. Cloud Computing Security: Security considerations specific to cloud environments.

This is not an exhaustive list, but it highlights the major areas covered in the CEH v12 exam. The exam tests both theoretical knowledge and practical skills, often involving scenario-based questions and the application of security tools and techniques. It's vital to have hands-on experience with the tools and concepts mentioned above to succeed.