Audit Linux privileges now to limit compromise, escalation, and system-wide damage. Review Linux Privileges×
There's more to network security than just penetration testing. This chapter discusses software tools and techniques auditors can use to test network security controls. Security testing as a process is covered, but the focus is on gathering the evidence useful for an audit.. Assessing security controls involves more than simply scanning a firewall to see what ports are open and then running off to a quiet room to generate a report. It is natural for security engineers to gravitate toward technology and focus on technical security control testing (otherwise known as penetration testing), because it is likely the "fun" part of security for most engineers. Conducting a penetration test is like throwing down the gauntlet to security professionals, and it gives them an opportunity to flex their hacker skills. Testing security as a system, however, involves significantly more than launching carefully crafted evil packets at the network to see what happens. This chapter discusses software tools and techniques auditors can use to test network security controls. The link for this article located at informIT is no longer available. . Evaluating security measures requires more than just checking an antivirus program to identify which threats are blocked.. Network Security Tools, Auditing Techniques, Security Assessment Software. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
If you are an old school Linux or Unix user, you probably remember the System Administrator's Tool for Scanning Networks (SATAN). In 1995, SATAN brought browser-based network auditing to the world. Despite its initial splash, SATAN fell to the wayside due to lack of updates. Thanks to the kind folks at the Advanced Research Corp., SATAN is back, in the form of the Security Auditor's Research Assistant (SARA), a kinder, gentler, easier to use, and more updated auditing tool. . Installing SARA is simple. As long as you've got Perl and a Web browser, you're good to go. In fact, SARA even runs on Windows 2000/XP via a customized coLinux installation. Let's play it safe, though, and stick with the *nix version. Just download, extract the tarball, and perform the customary ./configure; make; make install as root. Launch SARA as root with the command /usr/local/sara/sara. Those who fear the command line can relax; the rest is done through your Web browser. SARA can take advantage of other open source software. If it detects nmap, you can choose to use it as the engine for port scanning instead of SARA's built-in engine. This allows SARA to utilize nmap's operating system detection feature in its reports. Start SARA with the -n option to enable nmap. The link for this article located at Linux.Com is no longer available. . Setting up SARA is simple. Just have Perl and a Web browser ready, and you’re good to go. SARA makes its comeback to meet today’s auditing needs.. Network Auditing, Open Source Software, Security Tools, System Administration, SARA Tool. . LinuxSecurity.com Team
Get the latest Linux and open source security news straight to your inbox.