Nmap's default port scanning covers how many ports?

• A. 100 ports
• B. 65,535 ports
• C. 1,000 ports
• D. 500 ports

Answer: (C)

Nmap’s default port range targets the 1000 most commonly used TCP ports. This selection focuses on the services you’re most likely to encounter, giving a practical balance between speed and the chance of finding open ports. If you need to scan every possible port, you would specify a full range like 1-65535 (using -p- or -p 1-65535). If you want a quicker, smaller sweep, you can use fast mode to cover around the top hundred ports (-F). So, the default covers 1,000 ports because that’s the built-in, standard set Nmap uses by default to optimize discovery without overwhelming the scan time.