Which technique determines the operating system running on a remote target by analyzing banners?

Which technique determines the operating system running on a remote target by analyzing banners?

• A. Port Scanning
• B. OS Fingerprinting
• C. Packet Sniffing
• D. Banner Grabbing

Answer: (D)

Banner grabbing is about pulling the textual banners that services send when you connect to them. These banners often reveal the software name and version, and sometimes hint at the underlying operating system. By collecting and analyzing these banners, you can infer which OS is likely running on the remote target. This makes it the best fit for determining the OS specifically by examining banners. Other options focus on different techniques. Port scanning looks for open ports and services but doesn’t extract banners to infer an OS. OS fingerprinting uses responses to probes to guess the OS, not banners. Packet sniffing captures traffic in transit and could reveal banners, but the formal technique described in this scenario is banner grabbing, not generic sniffing.

Banner grabbing is about pulling the textual banners that services send when you connect to them. These banners often reveal the software name and version, and sometimes hint at the underlying operating system. By collecting and analyzing these banners, you can infer which OS is likely running on the remote target. This makes it the best fit for determining the OS specifically by examining banners.

Other options focus on different techniques. Port scanning looks for open ports and services but doesn’t extract banners to infer an OS. OS fingerprinting uses responses to probes to guess the OS, not banners. Packet sniffing captures traffic in transit and could reveal banners, but the formal technique described in this scenario is banner grabbing, not generic sniffing.