{"id":77425,"date":"2022-06-08T07:52:13","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T07:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eccouncil.org\/cybersecurity-exchange\/?p=77425"},"modified":"2025-03-19T11:23:03","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T11:23:03","slug":"preventing-malicious-hacks-with-port-scanning-techniques","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eccouncil.org\/cybersecurity-exchange\/penetration-testing\/preventing-malicious-hacks-with-port-scanning-techniques\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are Network Ports and Port Scanning Techniques?\u202f\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPort scanning techniques are a valuable part of any cybersecurity professional\u2019s toolkit. Ethical hackers\u202fand\u202fpenetration testers<\/a> frequently use port scanning techniques to locate vulnerabilities in a network that malicious hackers can use to gain access. Port scanning is a fundamental part of the pre-attack phase of a penetration test.\n\nEC-Council\u2019s Certified Penetration Testing Professional (CPENTAI<\/sup>)<\/a> certification teaches port scanning, advanced Windows attacks, and many other penetration testing techniques essential for success as a cybersecurity professional. Keep reading to gain a deeper understanding of port scanning, and check out EC-Council\u2019s CPENTAI<\/sup> course<\/a> to learn more about advancing your career in cybersecurity.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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What Is Port Scanning?<\/h2>\n

Port scanning aims to determine the organization of IP addresses, hosts, and ports in a network\u2014in particular, which ports are open and sending or receiving data. Port scanning can also reveal the presence of firewalls and other security measures between a server and a user\u2019s device (Avast Business, 2021).<\/p>\n

Port scans almost always occur after an initial network scan, which detects network hosts and maps them to their IP addresses. Port scanning then commences by sending packets to specific ports on a host (Fortinet, 2020).<\/p>\n

The overarching goal of port scanning is to find ports, hosts, and server locations vulnerable to an attack and to diagnose those points\u2019 security levels. Malicious hackers also use the same process to identify port security weaknesses that they can use to compromise a network\u2019s security and gain access.<\/p>\n

Due to possible vulnerabilities associated with network ports, penetration testers and other cybersecurity professionals must understand the importance of using the most relevant port scanning techniques for a particular situation.<\/p>\n

It is also essential to understand that port scanning and port sweeping are not synonymous, as both terms are frequently used. While port scanning targets multiple ports on a single system, port sweeping targets one specific port number across multiple systems at once.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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What Is a Network Port?<\/h2>\n

In simple terms, a network port receives and transmits information on a network for a specific service. You can think of network ports as information docking points: endpoints for information in transit through a network to and from devices, the internet, and programs. Network ports allow individual computers to handle multiple requests across a single network. Each port is differentiated using an assigned port number ranging from 0 to 65535 (Wright, 2021).<\/p>\n

Port numbers 0 to 1023 are \u201cwell-known\u201d ports and are always associated with a specific service. Some common examples include:<\/p>\n