In CEH v13 Reconnaissance Techniques, passive monitoring of competitors’ online presence is a legitimate and effective intelligence-gathering activity. One of the most efficient tools for this purpose is Google Alerts.
Google Alerts allow analysts to receive automated notifications when new content containing specific keywords—such as company names, products, or executives—is indexed online. This enables continuous, passive surveillance without repeatedly visiting websites manually.
Option B directly addresses the analyst’s goal of staying updated efficiently.
Option A is illegal and unethical.
Option C involves direct interaction, which may reveal the analyst’s presence.
Option D provides anonymity but does not actively monitor changes.
CEH v13 strongly encourages automation in reconnaissance to reduce noise, effort, and detection risk. Therefore, Option B is the correct and CEH-aligned answer.
