Wayback Machine

The Wayback Machine, operated by the Internet Archive, is a web archiving service that captures and stores snapshots of websites and web pages at various points in time.

It is a valuable resource for accessing historical web content and tracking the evolution of websites over the years. The Wayback Machine's extensive archive provides insights into how websites have changed, what content was present in the past, and potentially sensitive information that may have been inadvertently exposed.

In the context of a web penetration test (pentest) or passive infrastructure identification, the Wayback Machine can be used as a reconnaissance tool to gather information about a target organization's online presence and infrastructure.

It can be used to review historical versions of a target organization's website, allowing them to identify past configurations, content, design changes, and any potential security issues that may have existed in the past.

It also may reveal subdomains associated with the target that are no longer visible on the main site. It may also provide information about the tech and web frameworks used by the target site at different points in time.