The correct answer is B. Passive.
Passive reconnaissance involves gathering information about a target without directly interacting with the target’s systems. OSINT, or open-source intelligence, includes publicly available information such as websites, social media, job postings, public DNS records, code repositories, breach databases, search engine results, and public documentation.
This aligns with CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 topics related to reconnaissance, penetration testing, threat intelligence, and information gathering.
Why the other options are incorrect:
A. Active
Active reconnaissance involves directly interacting with the target environment, such as port scanning, vulnerability scanning, banner grabbing, or probing services.
C. Offensive
Offensive security refers broadly to activities such as penetration testing and red-team operations. However, it does not specifically describe the reconnaissance method used.
D. Defensive
Defensive security focuses on protecting, monitoring, and responding to threats. OSINT collection at the start of a penetration test is not best described as defensive reconnaissance.
Therefore, checking OSINT resources is passive reconnaissance.
