What your child will learn
Name the three pre-engagement artifacts an ethical red-teamer requires before testing: a signed Rules of Engagement document, a defined scope of in-scope assets, and a written authorization signature from the asset owner
Distinguish passive reconnaissance from active reconnaissance and apply CFAA / state-computer-misuse awareness to every probe
Locate a target organization's published bug-bounty scope and explain why the same finding against an out-of-scope asset is unauthorized even if reported in good faith
Demonstrate a passive WHOIS lookup on a domain you own and read the registrant / nameserver / status fields without ever resolving or probing the target directly
How this mission works
Reconnaissance is the foundation of every pentest. Walk through what professional red-teamers call the "scope and consent" gate BEFORE any tool touches data: confirm written authorization, define in-scope target list, decline chance-finds outside that scope. Then move to passive reconnaissance — public WHOIS, certificate transparency logs, subdomain enumeration, GitHub dorking — strictly on assets you own or have written permission. Every step frames the activity against CFAA, state computer-misuse statutes, and the school AUP boundary so you understand that the same skill, used without authorization, is a felony.
What students actually encounter
What are the three pre-engagement artifacts an ethical red-teamer requires BEFORE running any tool against a target?
You find a public GitHub repo leaking API keys of a company you do not have an engagement with — what is the ethical action?
A classmate asks you to "test my friend's Etsy shop" with verbal DM consent — what is the right response?
Cipher is with them the whole way
When a student gets stuck on Pen-Test Recon 101 — Ethics & Passive Recon, Cipher appears with a mission-specific nudge — no spoilers, just a hint toward the right thinking. Make a wrong choice, and Cipher explains the real-world consequence. Finish the mission, and Cipher generates a personalized performance debrief based on exactly how the student played it.
ISTE alignment
Advanced 14–18 learners distinguish passive recon (WHOIS, CT logs) from active recon (nmap, banners) and apply CFAA / state computer-misuse awareness to every probe — without explicit written authorization in a Rules of Engagement, even passive-looking WHOIS lookups on assets you do not own are a gray area. The mission ties to CSTA 3A-NI-08 (cryptographic tradeoffs), AP CSP / AP Cybersecurity (ethical rules for any security work), ISTE Digital Citizen 2a/2d (positive, safe, legal, and ethical conduct), and the NICE Workforce Framework Analyze-Testing work role NICE-SU-PEN-01 ("conduct full-scope, authorized penetration tests") and NICE-SU-PEN-02 ("apply formal methods of risk analysis").