[ISN] Nmap Hackers Pick Top 100 Security Tools

Thu Jul 6 01:21:04 EDT 2006

====================

This email newsletter comes to you free and is supported by the 
following advertisers, which offer products and services in which 
you might be interested. Please take a moment to visit these 
advertisers' Web sites and show your support for Security UPDATE. 

Sherpa
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=3094A:4FB69

Thawte
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=3094C:4FB69

Symantec
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30947:4FB69

====================

1. In Focus: Nmap Hackers Pick Top 100 Security Tools

2. Security News and Features
   - Recent Security Vulnerabilities
   - Windows Genuine Advantage Now at a Disadvantage
   - Microsoft Response to Exploit Riles Metasploit Developer
   - SharePoint Antivirus Solutions

3. Security Toolkit
   - Security Matters Blog
   - FAQ
   - Security Forum Featured Thread
   - Share Your Security Tips

4. New and Improved
   - Encryption for SOHO

====================

==== Sponsor: Sherpa ====

How will compliance regulations affect your IT 
infrastructure? Help design your retention and retrieval, 
privacy and security policies to make sure that your 
organization is compliant.
     http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=3094A:4FB69

====================

==== 1. In Focus: Nmap Hackers Pick Top 100 Security Tools ====
   by Mark Joseph Edwards, News Editor, mark at ntsecurity / net

You've most likely heard of Nmap, the network-mapping tool developed by 
"Fyodor." Nmap is widely used and is a standard tool in countless 
security administrators' toolkits. Fyodor operates a mailing list, 
nmap-hackers, for general announcements, patches, and light discussion 
regarding Nmap. 

In 2000 and 2003, Fyodor surveyed the members of the mailing list to 
find out which security tools were their favorites. The 2000 survey 
resulted in a list of the top 50 most popular security tools. The 2003 
survey resulted in an expanded list of the top 75 most popular security 
tools. Both lists have been great resources, and many people have 
discovered new tools that they weren't previously aware of.

It's been three years since the last survey, and in that time lots of 
new security tools have come into existence, while other security tools 
have been updated (in some cases several times) with new features and 
functionality. This year, Fyodor conducted a new survey, and 3243 
people responded. This latest survey resulted in an even longer list: 
the top 100 most popular security tools. 

Although the list contains tools for several platforms, including 
Windows, Linux, BSD, Solaris, and Mac OS X, it's easy to figure out 
which tools work on which platforms because each tool description 
includes platform-specific icons. There are also icons that let you 
know whether a tool is free, whether it has a command-line interface or 
GUI, and whether source code is available.

Another feature of the list shows you whether the tool has risen or 
dropped in popularity compared with the 2003 survey results. 
Surprisingly, the top four tools on the current list remain unchanged 
in their popularity rank. Those top four tools are Nessus, Wireshark 
(formerly Ethereal), Snort, and Netcat. Metasploit Framework (released 
after the 2003 survey) is new to the list and is ranked the fifth most 
popular tool. Incidentally, you can read a semi-related news story, 
"Microsoft Response to Exploit Riles Metasploit Developer," on our Web 
site at the URL below. 
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30956:4FB69

An interesting trend revealed by 2006 survey results is that wireless 
security is far more important to security administrators than it was 
three years ago, evidenced by the fact that the wireless sniffer Kismet 
rose from the 17th most popular tool in 2003 to 7th most popular tool 
in 2006. Aircrack, originally released in mid-2004, now ranks as the 
21st most popular security tool in the list. Aircrack helps crack Wired 
Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) encryption, 
which, as you probably know, are typically used to help secure 
communication on WiFi networks. 

Another interesting trend is that two great password-cracking tools, 
John the Ripper and Cain and Abel, broke into the top 10 as the 9th and 
10th most popular tools respectively. John the Ripper was previously 
ranked #11 in 2003 and Cain and Abel was ranked #23, so the latter made 
quite a jump in popularity. 

So that's a brief rundown of a few of the tools and trends from the 
list. You can of course glean even more information about security tool 
trends by reviewing the complete list, and you can learn about more 
tools that are new to the list, such as BackTrack, P0f, WebScarab, 
WebInspect, Core Impact, Canvas, and others. Check out the full survey 
results at http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=3095B:4FB69 . 

====================

==== Sponsor: Thawte ====

Secure Your Online Data Transfer with SSL     
Increase your customers' confidence and your business by securely 
collecting sensitive information online.  In this free white paper 
you'll learn about the various applications of SSL certificates and 
their appropriate deployment, along with details of how to test SSL on 
your web server.  

http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=3094C:4FB69

====================

==== 2. Security News and Features ====

Recent Security Vulnerabilities
   If you subscribe to this newsletter, you also receive Security 
Alerts, which inform you about recently discovered security 
vulnerabilities. You can also find information about these 
discoveries at
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=3094D:4FB69

Windows Genuine Advantage Now at a Disadvantage
   Microsoft's anti-piracy tool, Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA), was 
recently found to be regularly contacting Microsoft without informing 
the user that such contact was taking place. Microsoft recently 
modified the latest version of WGA to contact the company's 
servers only once every two weeks. Nevertheless, a third party has stepped 
in to prevent WGA from regularly contacting Microsoft's servers.
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30952:4FB69

Microsoft Response to Exploit Riles Metasploit Developer
   A recently released exploit that takes advantage of problems in RRAS 
has drawn the relative ire of Microsoft and the obligatory rebuttal of 
a well-known security researcher. 
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30956:4FB69

SharePoint Antivirus Solutions
   Interest in SharePoint is heating up. Online SharePoint discussion 
groups such as those at Windows IT Pro's sister site MSD2D.com are 
flourishing, evidence that more and more IT pros are either working 
with Windows SharePoint Services or Microsoft Office Share-Point Portal 
Server 2003 or are investigating them. The downside of a collaboration 
technology like SharePoint is that it exposes an organization to 
security threats such as viruses. Fortunately, SharePoint-specific 
antivirus solutions are available and our buyer's guide can help you 
choose the best solution for you needs. 
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30954:4FB69

====================

==== Resources and Events ====

Learn how to gather evidence of compliance across multiple systems and 
link the data to regulatory and framework control objectives.    View 
this on-demand Web seminar today!
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30944:4FB69

Take an up-to-date look at secure, remote access to corporate 
applications and stay ahead of the curve when making decisions about 
near- and long-term IT infrastructure. On-demand Web seminar.  
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30949:4FB69

Find out what policies help or hurt in protecting your company's assets 
and data. View this on-demand seminar today! 
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30948:4FB69

Gain control of your messaging data--and make your job easier--with 
these step-by-step instructions for complying with the law and ensuring 
your systems are working properly.
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=3094B:4FB69

Are you protected company-wide against spyware, keyloggers, adware, and 
backdoor Trojans? Test the state of the art scanning engine that uses 
threat signatures from multiple sources to track down the culprits that 
antivirus solutions alone can't protect you against. Download your  
free 30 day trial of CounterSpy Enterprise today!  
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30946:4FB69

====================

==== Featured White Paper ====

Achieve compliance in today's complex regulatory environment while 
managing threats to the inward- and outward-bound communications vital 
to your business. Adopt a best-practices approach, such as the one 
outlined in the international information security standard ISO/IEC 
17799:2005. Download the white paper today and secure the 
confidentiality, availability and integrity of your corporate 
information!
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30945:4FB69

====================

==== Hot Spot ====

Learn the commonalities across multiple compliance 
regulations and standards to optimize your environment and 
save time and money.
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30947:4FB69

====================

==== 3. Security Toolkit ==== 

Security Matters Blog: Voylent Encrypts Cell Phone Calls
   by Mark Joseph Edwards, http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30958:4FB69

   The recently released Zfone beta encrypts voice-over-IP calls. Now 
you can encrypt cell phone calls too with the Voylent beta.
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30955:4FB69

FAQ
   (by John Savill, http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=3095C:4FB69

Q: Is there a tool I can use to delete user profiles?

Find the answer at    
http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30953:4FB69

Security Forum Featured Thread

Security and Permission consideration
   (One message in this thread)
   A forum participant writes that he has a group of people (other than 
the Server Administrator) who are responsible for applications on 
various servers. Those people have been given the local administrator 
passwords for various servers so they can log on remotely to perform 
certain tasks. However, those people sometimes take actions on a server 
that go beyond their assigned tasks. Therefore he doesn't want those 
people to have full administrator privileges on the servers and wonders 
whether creating local accounts in the Power Users group would give 
them enough rights to perform their administrative tasks? 
Join the discussion at 
http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30943:4FB69

Share Your Security Tips and Get $100
   Share your security-related tips, comments, or problems and 
solutions in the Windows IT Security print newsletter's Reader to 
Reader column. Email your contributions (500 words or less) to 
r2rwinitsec at windowsitpro.com. If we print your submission, you'll 
get $100. We edit submissions for style, grammar, and length.

====================

==== Announcements ====
   (from Windows IT Pro and its partners)

Discounted Offer for the Windows IT Pro Master CD
   Save 50% off the Windows IT Pro Master CD! Order now and get 
portable, high-speed access to the entire Windows IT Pro article 
database on CD--a searchable library that includes every issue ever 
published. The newest issue also includes BONUS Windows IT Tips. Order 
now and save 50%:
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=3094E:4FB69  

Save $80 off the Exchange & Outlook Administrator newsletter
   Get endless solutions to help you migrate, optimize, administer, 
back up, recover, and secure your messaging environment. Subscribe to 
the Exchange & Outlook Administrator newsletter today and save $80:
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30950:4FB69

====================

==== 4. New and Improved ====
   by Renee Munshi, products at windowsitpro.com

Encryption for SOHO
   WinMagic offers MySecureDoc, a line of full-disk encryption 
solutions priced for the small office/home office (SOHO) user. 
MySecureDoc Personal Edition ($29.95) works with Windows XP/2000 and 
protects all data on desktops and laptops by encrypting the entire hard 
drive before the logon screen appears so that intruders can't bypass 
the encryption level. MySecureDoc Media Edition ($19.95) protects all 
data on removable storage devices such as USB sticks. It encrypts the 
entire device, not just the files and folders in use, and asks for 
authentication before granting access to the device. MySecureDoc 
Personal Edition Plus ($49.95) combines Personal Edition and Media 
Edition. For more information, go to
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=3095A:4FB69

Tell Us About a Hot Product and Get a Best Buy Gift Card!
   Have you used a product that changed your IT experience by saving 
you time or easing your daily burden? Tell us about the product, and 
we'll send you a Best Buy Gift Card if we write about the product in a 
Windows IT Pro What's Hot column. Send your product suggestion with 
information about how the product has helped you to 
whatshot at windowsitpro.com.

====================

==== Contact Us ==== 

About the newsletter -- letters at windowsitpro.com
About technical questions -- http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30959:4FB69
About product news -- products at windowsitpro.com
About your subscription -- windowsitproupdate at windowsitpro.com
About sponsoring Security UPDATE -- salesopps at windowsitpro.com

====================

This email newsletter is brought to you by Windows IT Security, 
the leading publication for IT professionals securing the Windows 
enterprise from external intruders and controlling access for 
internal users. Subscribe today.
   http://list.windowsitpro.com/t?ctl=30951:4FB69

View the Windows IT Pro privacy policy at
   http://www.windowsitpro.com/AboutUs/Index.cfm?action=privacy

Windows IT Pro, a division of Penton Media, Inc.
221 East 29th Street, Loveland, CO 80538
Attention: Customer Service Department