what phase is Bob involved with?

Bob has been hired to perform a penetration test on ABC.com. He begins by looking at IP address ranges owned by the company and details of domain name registration. He then goes to News Groups and financial web sites to see if they are leaking any sensitive information of have any technical details online.

Within the context of penetration testing methodology, what phase is Bob involved with?

A.
Passive information gathering

B.
Active information gathering

C.
Attack phase

D.
Vulnerability Mapping

Explanation:
He is gathering information and as long as he doesn’t make contact with any of the targets systems he is considered gathering this information in a passive mode.