Footprinting

what is the exact meaning of footprinting. please help me out. i am littlebit confused. Hi @parthm, > Footprinting is a security auditing technique, aimed at gathering intelligence about the infrastructure of a target network, only from information which access is free and autorized. It is the first component of the information gathering step of a pentest, before port scanning and fingerprinting. https://www.infond.fr/2010/05/toturial-footprinting.html --Stark Footprinting is the process of creating a blueprint or map of an organization’s network and systems. Footprinting begins by determining the target system, application, or physical location of the target. Specific information about the organization is gathered using non-intrusive methods. The information the hacker is looking for during the footprinting phase is anything that gives clues as to the network architecture, server, and application types where valuable data is stored. Thank u @djax120, @STARK my confusion is been cleared now. Thank u again.