Sguil Status

One of you wrote recently to ask about the status of the open source Network Security Monitoring suite called Sguil. You noticed the last release of Sguil (0.6.1) occurred in February 2006. I can assure you Sguil is not dead. In fact, just last week I wrote an article for a new BSD magazine about installing the sensor and server components of Sguil 0.7.0 (from CVS on FreeBSD 7.0.

To keep up with development read the sguil-devel mailing list and visit #snort-gui on irc.freenode.net.

I expect to see Sguil 0.7.0 released before 13 February 2008 to avoid hitting the two year mark.

Read More

Last Book Reviews of 2007 Posted

Amazon.com just published my five star review of Ajax Security by Billy Hoffman and Bryan Sullivan. From the review:

Ajax Security was the last book I read and reviewed in 2007. However, it was the best book I read all year. The book is absolutely compelling and every security professional and Web developer should read it. It's really as simple as that.

I am not a Web developer. I was not very familiar with Ajax (beyond its buzzword status and a vague notion of functionality) when I started reading Ajax Security. I attended the authors' Black Hat 2007 talk and was thoroughly impressed and disturbed by the security implications they presented. I expected Ajax Security to be a good book, but one can never be sure if talented hackers and presenters can transfer their skills to the written word. Ajax Security gets the job done.

Ajax Security is my Best Book Bejtlich Read in 2007 award winner. Amazon.com will soon publish my four star review of Geekonomics by David Rice. From the review:

I really, really liked Geekonomics, and I think all security and even technology professionals should read it. Why not give the book five stars then? The reasons are twofold: 1) the book fails to adequately differentiate between safety and security; and 2) the chapter on open source demonstrates fundamental misconceptions that unfortunately detract from the author's message. If you are kind enough to keep the
thoughts in this review in mind when reading Geekonomics, you will find the book to be thoughtful and exceptionally helpful.

It is important to remember that Geekonomics is almost exclusively a vulnerability-centric book. Remember that the "risk equation" is usually stated as "risk = vulnerability X threat X impact". While it is silly to assign numbers to these factors, you can see that decreasing vulnerability while keeping threat and impact constant results in decreased risk. This is the author's thesis. Rice believes the governing issue in software security is the need to reduce vulnerability.

The problem with this approach is that life is vulnerability. It is simply too difficult to eliminate enough vulnerability in order to reduce risk in the real world. Most real world security is accomplished by reducing threats. In other words, the average citizen does not reduce the risk of being murdered by wearing an electrified, mechanized armor suit, thereby mitigating the vulnerability of his soft flesh and breakable neck. Instead, he relies on the country's legal system and police force to deter, investigate, apprehend, prosecute, and incarcerate threats. Finally, Amazon.com published my three star review of The Book of Pf by Peter N.M. Hansteen. From the review:

I was excited to see a new book on Pf on the market. Three years ago I read and reviewed Building Firewalls with OpenBSD and PF (BFWOAP) by Jacek Artymiak and gave it five stars. I hoped The Book of Pf (TBOP) would acknowledge the best ideas in BFWOAP and expand into Pf developments of the last three years. TBOP is strong when it addresses how to install or use Pf on operating systems other than OpenBSD. Elsewhere, the book is too weak to merit more than three stars.

Hopefully by the time you read this all of the links will be working and the reviews will be posted.

Read More

Best Book Bejtlich Read in 2007

Last year I posted my first year-end ranking of books I had read and reviewed in 2006, titled Favorite Books I Read and Reviewed in 2006. I decided to continue the tradition this year by posting my 2007 rankings, and awarding Best Book Bejtlich Read in 2007 (B3R07).

2007 was not my most productive year in terms of reading and reviewing books. I read 17 in 2000, 42 in 2001, 24 in 2002, 33 in 2003, 33 in 2004, 26 in 2005, and 52 in 2006. This year I read and reviewed 25 books, several during the last week. My ratings can be summarized as follows:

• 5 stars: 9 books


• 4 stars: 11 books


• 3 stars: 4 books


• 2 stars: 1 book


• 1 star: 0 books

The competition for the B3R07 award was intense. Keep in mind these are all five star books.

• 9. Designing BSD Rootkits: An Introduction to Kernel Hacking by Joseph Kong (No Starch). If you understand C and want to learn how to manipulate the FreeBSD kernel, Designing BSD Rootkits is for you.


• 8. Hacking Exposed VoIP: Voice Over IP Security Secrets & Solutions by David Endler and Mark Collier (McGraw-Hill/Osborne). I like HE books because the good ones explain a technology from a security standpoint, how to exploit it, and how to defend it. I thought HE:V did well in all three areas, even featuring original research and experiments to document and validate the authors' claims.


• 7. Security Metrics: Replacing Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt by Andrew Jaquith (Addison-Wesley). You must read this book if you care to measure security progress.


• 6. Security Data Visualization: Graphical Techniques for Network Analysis by Greg Conti (No Starch). It's perfect for readers familiar with security who are looking to add new weapons to their defensive arsenals.


• 5. Linux Firewalls: Attack Detection and Response with iptables, psad, and fwsnort by Michael Rash (No Starch). As a FreeBSD user, Linux Firewalls is good enough to make me consider using Linux in certain circumstances!


• 4. Absolute FreeBSD, 2nd Edition: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD by Michael W. Lucas (No Starch). When was the last time you could physically feel yourself getting smarter while reading a book? If you are a beginning to average FreeBSD user, Absolute FreeBSD 2nd Ed (AF2E) will deliver that sensation in spades.


• 3. Windows Forensic Analysis Including DVD Toolkit by Harlan Carvey (Syngress). WFA delivered just what I hoped to read in a book of its size and intended audience, and my expectations were high. If your job requires investigating compromised Windows hosts, you must read WFA.


• 2. Network Warrior by Gary Donahue (O'Reilly). Gary Donahue has written a wonderful book that I highly recommend for anyone who administers, supports, or interacts with networks.

And, the winner of the Best Book Bejtlich Read in 2007 award is... 1. Ajax Security by Billy Hoffman and Bryan Sullivan (Addison-Wesley). Ajax Security was the last book I read and reviewed in 2007. However, it was the best book I read all year. The book is absolutely compelling and every security professional and Web developer should read it. It's really as simple as that.

If you'd like to read a very thorough and technically perceptive review of the book, I recommend this post by Dre: Ajax Security opens up a whole new can of worms.

Let me conclude by saying the competition for the top slot was very tight. I really loved all top five books, and the bottom four were excellent too. There are even some good four star books, but a book must rate five stars in order to be considered here.

Congratulations to No Starch for placing 4 books in my five star list. Addison-Wesley was the runner-up with 2 books, but the publisher also produced the B3R07 award winner.

Happy reading in 2008!

Read More

Long Live Emerging Threats

If you haven't noticed, availability of Bleeding Threats has been lousy recently. If you read Matt Jonkman's recent post you'll notice the arrival of Emerging Threats. I am currently getting my copy of the Bleeding ruleset there; I am no longer using Bleeding Threats.

Read More

Snort Report 11 Posted

My 11th Snort Report on Snort Limitations has been posted. From the start of the article:

In the first Snort Report I mentioned a few things value-added resellers should keep in mind when deploying Snort:

1. Snort is not a "badness-ometer."
2. Snort is not "lightweight."
3. Snort is not just a "packet grepper."

In this edition of the Snort Report, I expand beyond those ideas, preparing you to use Snort by explaining how to think properly about its use. Instead of demonstrating technical capabilities, we'll consider what you can do with a network inspection and control system like Snort.

The editors titled this piece "Snort Limitations" -- I didn't.

Read More

Predictions for 2008

For the last five years I've resisted the urge to write year-end predictions (thanks Anton). However, I'm seeing indications of the following, so maybe this is more about highlighting trends than taking wild guesses.

Here are my five predictions for 2008.

1. Expect greater government involvement in assessing the security of private sector networks. I base this item on what's happening in the UK following their latest data breach. The article Data watchdog seeks dawn-raid powers states the following:
   
   The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which polices the security of the nation’s data, is to be given the power to raid Government departments suspected of breaching protection laws.
   
   The move, announced today by Gordon Brown, comes in response to the loss by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) of personal details of some 25 million Britons. The Prime Minister said the ICO would be given extra powers to carry out “spot checks” of government departments.
   
   However, it is unclear whether the new powers will extend to companies - something that Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, is pressing for.
   
   "Alarm bells must ring in every boardroom," Mr Thomas said today.
   
   He added: "For some time I have been pressing the government to give my Office the power to audit and inspect organisations that process people’s personal information without first having to get their consent."
   
   Mr Thomas also repeated a call for the law to be "changed to make security breaches of this magnitude a criminal offence." (emphasis added)
   
   Security raids would be an amazing event. I think it would significantly alter the way security is managed by every major company.


2. Expect greater military involvement in defending private sector networks. I base this item on reporting by the Baltimore Sun, no longer posted on their site but repeated elsewhere:
   
   In a major shift, the National Security Agency (NSA) is drawing up plans for a new domestic assignment: helping protect government and private communications networks from cyberattacks and infiltration by terrorists and hackers, according to current and former intelligence officials.
   
   From electricity grids to subways to nuclear power plants, the United States depends more than ever on Internet-based control systems that could be manipulated remotely in a terrorist attack, security specialists told The Baltimore Sun.
   
   The plan calls for the NSA to work with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other federal agencies to monitor such networks to prevent unauthorized intrusion, according to those with knowledge of what is known internally as the "Cyber Initiative." Details of the project are highly classified.
   
   Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, a former NSA chief, is coordinating the initiative. It will be run by the DHS, which has primary responsibility for protecting domestic infrastructure, including the Internet, current and former officials said.
   
   At the outset, up to 2,000 people -- from the Department, the NSA and other agencies -- could be assigned to the initiative, said a senior intelligence official who spoke to The Baltimore Sun on condition of anonymity.
   
   I know nothing about this outside of what I just posted, and the story House panel chief demands details of cybersecurity plan discussing activities of the US House Committee on Homeland Security.


3. Expect increased awareness of external threats and less emphasis on insider threats. Maybe this is just wishful thinking, but the recent attention on botnets, malware professionalization, organized criminal cyber enterprises, and the like seems to be helping direct some attention away from inside threats. This may be premature for 2008, but I expect to see more coverage of outsiders again.


4. Expect greater attention paid to incident response and network forensics, and less on prevention. This could also be wishful thinking, but I am seeing a lot of movement in the commercial space involving effective incident response processes and tools. I've been speaking to several vendors while I build my IR and forensics lab for work and 2008 will see some very cool capabilities arrive, particularly in live response and remote forensic assessments. Several vendors will aggressively ship network forensic systems in 2008 with increased tie-ins to other existing products, like SIMs, firewalls, IPS, and the like.


5. Expect talk of an "IPv6 gap," especially with respect to China. Leading up to the start of the Olympic Games in China in 2008, I am sure we will here a lot about IPv6. I mentioned this last year. Talk of an "IPv6 gap" will build upon a perceived "space gap" as China pursues its vision to put men on the moon by 2020. You will hear people say we need IPv6 because it is "inherently secure" or something similar. The China hacking stories of a few months ago embedded themselves in the IT consciousness, and that will be a continuing theme. I'm not sure if any of this will result in IPv6 being effectively deployed in 2008, 2009, or even 2010 in the US.

A year from now I'll see how these trends played out in 2008 and report back.

Read More

Two Book Reviews Posted

Amazon.com just published my five star review of Absolute FreeBSD, 2nd Ed by Michael Lucas. From the review:

Almost five years ago I reviewed Absolute BSD, Michael Lucas' first book on FreeBSD. I gave that book five stars, back when several other BSD books provided competition. On the eve of 2008, I am happy to say that Michael Lucas is probably the best system administration author I've read. I am amazed that he can communicate top-notch content with a sense of humor, while not offending the reader or sounding stupid. When was the last time you could physically feel yourself getting smarter while reading a book? If you are a beginning to average FreeBSD user, Absolute FreeBSD 2nd Ed (AF2E) will deliver that sensation in spades. Even more advanced users will find plenty to enjoy.

Amazon.com also just published my five star review of Linux Firewalls by Mike Rash. From the review:

Disclaimer: I wrote the foreword for this book, so obviously I am biased. However, I am not financially compensated for this book's success.

In the foreword I note that Linux Firewalls is a "great book." As a FreeBSD user, Linux Firewalls is good enough to make me consider using Linux in certain circumstances! Mike's book is exceptionally clear, organized, concise, and actionable. You should be able to read it and implement everything you find by following his examples. You will not only learn tools and techniques, but you will be able to appreciate Mike's keen defensive insights.

Are you seeing a trend here? In October I reviewed Security Data Visualization from No Starch and my Amazon.com Wish List has several other No Starch titles on it. Nice work No Starch!

Read More