What is the first stage of an attack?

• A. Exploitation
• B. Reconnaissance (port scanning)
• C. Installation
• D. Privilege escalation

Answer: (B)

The first stage is reconnaissance: gathering information about the target and its network to identify potential entry points. Port scanning is a classic reconnaissance technique because it quickly reveals which hosts are reachable and which services are exposed, pointing to possible weaknesses to exploit. Only after this information is gathered would the attacker move to exploitation, install malware, or escalate privileges; those steps rely on the visibility gained during reconnaissance.