SANS MGT414: SANS(R) +S™ Training Program for the CISSP(R) Certification Exam in Augusta starts 10/12

Have you ever considered pursuing the CISSP certification? It *can* be intimidating, but SANS and the Greater Augusta ISSA are here to help!

"Over the past 4 years, 98% of all respondents, who studied our SANS® +S™ Training Program for the CISSP® Certification Exam and then took

the exam passed; compared to a national average of around 70% for other prep courses. SANS® +S™ Training Program for the CISSP® Certification Exam is designed to prepare you to pass the exam. This course is an accelerated review course that assumes the student has a basic understanding of networks and operating systems and focuses solely on the ten domains of knowledge as determined by ISC2. Each domain of knowledge is dissected into its critical components. Every component is discussed showing its relationship to each other and other areas of network security. After completion of the course the student will have a good working knowledge of the ten domains of knowledge.

Who Should Attend

-Security professionals who are interested in understanding the concepts covered in the CISSP® exam as determined by (ISC)2

-Managers who want to understand the critical areas of network security

-System, security, and network administrators who want to understand the pragmatic applications of the CISSP® 10 Domains

-Security professionals and managers looking for practical ways the 10 domains of knowledge can be applied to the current job

-In short, if you desire a CISSP® or your job requires it, MGT414 is the training for you"

If you work for Department of Defense (or would like to), please reference the 8570 matrix to see what the CISSP certification qualifies you for:

http://www.giac.org/8570/

I will be mentoring SANS MGT414 SANS® +S™ Training Program for the CISSP® Certification Exam in Augusta starting Tuesday, October 12. Class will be held at Augusta State University starting starting Tuesday, October 12, 2010 and ending Thursday, November 11, 2010. The registration deadline is Tuesday, October 5.

For more information about the course, please see:

http://www.sans.org/mentor/details.php?nid=22808

Please note that the Greater Augusta ISSA and SANS have come up with a special arrangement to include the CISSP Exam voucher in the price of

the course! Also, a 25% discount is available for ISSA members! Even if you're not currently an ISSA member, you can join today for only

$120 to obtain the 25% discount (which will save you over $700).

Greater Augusta ISSA 2010 Q3 Public Meeting: Rob Lee presents the Mandiant M-Trends Report on APT (Advanced Persistent Threat)

The Greater Augusta ISSA is extremely excited to welcome Rob Lee this quarter! Rob Lee is the Curriculum Lead for Digital Forensic Training at the SANS Institute and is also a Director in MANDIANT’s Professional Services group. Please join us for this educational training opportunity.

What: The Greater Augusta ISSA 2010 Q3 Public meeting: Rob Lee presents the Mandiant M-Trends Report on APT (Advanced Persistent Threat)
How: This is a FREE public meeting. Please confirm your reservation by sending an email to reservations@augusta.issa.org
When: Thursday August 12 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Where:
University Hall Room UH-170
Augusta State University
2500 Walton Way
Augusta, GA 30904
http://www.aug.edu/public_relations/pr_map_campus.htm

On the morning of the presentation, don't forget to swing by the ASU Public Safety office to get a visitor pass for the parking lot. The Public Safety office is in the back corner of the campus. You can see it at the bottom-left of this map:
http://www.aug.edu/public_relations/asumap/images/PARKINGMAP1008PR.jpg

State of the Hack: M-Trends- The Advanced Persistent Threat
In early 2010, MANDIANT released its inaugural M-Trends report. This first report focused on our years of experience responding to computer security incidents perpetrated by the Advanced Persistent Threat (APT). The "straight from the battlefield" presentation provides case studies detailing the most recent computer security incidents MANDIANT has responded to involving the APT. During this presentation we detail the main points of the report through anonymous, in-depth case studies of attacks against commercial, government, and defense industrial base organizations. We demonstrate how the attackers gain access, how they behave once inside the victim network and the impact on the organizations. And, because understanding the problem is only half the battle, we wrap up with remediation recommendations that really work.

Robert Lee
Rob Lee is a Director in MANDIANT’s Professional Services group. Mr. Lee has more than 14 years of experience in computer forensics, vulnerability and exploit discovery, intrusion detection/prevention, and incident response. He served in the U.S. Air Force as a founding member of the 609th Information Warfare Squadron, the first U.S. military operational unit focused on information operations. Later, he was a member of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations where he conducted computer crime investigations, incident response, and computer forensics. Prior to joining MANDIANT, Mr. Lee worked directly with a variety of government agencies in the law enforcement, U.S. Department of Defense, and intelligence communities as the technical lead for a vulnerability discovery and exploit development team, lead for a cyber forensics branch, and lead for a computer forensic and security software development team. A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Mr. Lee also holds a Masters in Business Administration from Georgetown University. In 2009 he was awarded the Digital Forensic Examiner of the Year from the Forensic 4Cast Awards. Mr. Lee is co-author of the bestselling book Know Your Enemy, (2nd Edition). He is also a co-author of MANDIANT’s Threat intelligence report - M-Trends: The Advanced Persistent Threat.

SANS 560 Network Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking -- Free Preview!

The Greater Augusta ISSA will present a 2-hour preview of the upcoming SANS 560 Mentor class on Thursday, July 15th. Please join us for a FREE preview of this exciting class!

What: The Greater Augusta ISSA presents a SANS 560 Preview
How: This is a FREE public meeting. Please confirm your reservation by sending an email to reservations@augusta.issa.org
When: Thursday, July 15 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Where:
Augusta State University
2500 Walton Way
Augusta, GA 30904
Allgood Hall E-258
Please click here for directions to campus:
http://www.aug.edu/public_relations/pr_map_campus.htm

On the morning of the presentation, don't forget to swing by the ASU Public Safety office to get a visitor pass for the parking lot. The Public Safety office is in the back corner of the campus. You can see it at the bottom-left of this map:
http://www.aug.edu/public_relations/asumap/images/PARKINGMAP1008PR.jpg

SANS 560 Network Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking in Augusta starts 8/17

I will be mentoring SANS 560 Network Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking in Augusta starting Tuesday, August 17. Typical SANS Mentor sessions are one night a week for 10 weeks, but this class will meet twice a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays), so we'll complete the course in only 5 weeks.

Who should take this course?

• Do you perform penetration testing?
• Do you procure penetration testing?
• Do you manage penetration testers?
• Did you take SANS 504 and really enjoy the Hacker Techniques portion?
• Do you want to know more about how the bad guys perform recon, scan for vulnerabilities, perform exploitation, gain command execution, and then pivot further into the target environment?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you need this class!

For more information about the course, please see:

http://www.sans.org/mentor/details.php?nid=22318

A 25% discount is available for ISSA members! Even if you're not currently an ISSA member, you can join today for only $120 to obtain the 25% discount (which will save you over $700).

To join the ISSA and/or register for SANS 560, please contact me.

Grepping an Active Log File and Mailing Matches

Recently, I had a need to be alerted by email each and every time a certain user logged in. After a few false starts, I eventually settled on something like this (sanitized and simplified for this blog):

tail -n0 -f /var/log/secure | grep --line-buffered "user" | while read line; do echo $line | mail myemail@example.com -s "Found"; done

We use the standard "tail -f" to follow the /var/log/secure file. The "-n0" option is used so that tail will start 0 lines from the end of the file. We only care about new entries in the file, so we start at the very end of the file, ignoring any existing entries.

Next, we pipe that to grep, looking for the username "user". The "--line-buffered" option is used to force grep to flush each and every line of output (instead of waiting for its default buffer to fill). Per the man page, this option can be a performance penalty, but this is not a concern in this scenario.

Then, we pipe that to a while loop that iterates over each line. For each line of output, we generate an email with a subject of "Found" and include what was found in the body of the email.

This solution works quite nicely and can very easily be extended in the following ways:

• adding multiple grep criteria
• modifying format of log entry to be emailed
• changing final action from email to something else (like adding an IPTables drop rule)

Enjoy!

Keep All Your Windows Software Updated with Secunia PSI

These days, it's imperative to keep all your software updated. Not only is it extremely important that you update your Microsoft software, but all third-party software must be kept updated as well (Adobe Reader and Flash, for example). You could open each application and look for its "Check for Updates" menu entry, but this can be time consuming. This method of updating may also miss some software. For example, you may have multiple installations of the Java JRE on your system in different locations. Many Java applications bundle their own JRE in their own directory and never update it.

What to do?

Secunia PSI (Personal Software Inspector) scans all files on your Windows system and, using Secunia's database of fingerprints, is able to determine the software versions installed on your system (including the multiple installations of Java in the example above). It then makes recommendations for any vulnerable software, including links to download the patched version of the software or to uninstall the program. I recommend switching from the default "simple" interface to the "advanced" interface to see all vulnerabilities on your system.

I've been using Secunia PSI on my personal systems for a few months now. It has saved me a lot of time in trying to keep track of all the different software versions on my systems. It also comes in quite handy when performing tech support for relatives--just install Secunia PSI and let it tell you what exactly needs to be updated.

Secunia PSI is free for personal use and I wholeheartedly recommend you try it today and see what vulnerabilities it finds on your system.

Defense in Depth using OSSEC and other free tools

Russ McRee wrote an excellent article about OSSEC for the October 2009 issue of ISSA Journal. (Disclaimer: I contributed to the article.) He then went into some further detail on his blog.

In a recent SANS 401 Mentor session, I used OSSEC in my demo of building a secure webserver using defense-in-depth principles. My rough notes can be found below. All software is freely available and the whole process can be done in under an hour (depending on the speed of your Internet connection). Once completed, OSSEC will be monitoring all system logs (SSH, Apache, mod_security, iptables, Wordpress) and optionally providing Active Response, blocking attacker's source IP addresses.

# Go to http://isoredirect.centos.org/centos/5/isos/i386/, pick a mirror, and then download CentOS-5.4-i386-bin-1of6.iso (you'll only need CD #1)

# Boot a virtual machine from the ISO image -OR- burn the ISO to CD and boot a physical machine from it

# Only install what's absolutely necessary - perform a "Base" install of CentOS 5.4

# Reboot (and remove the CentOS CD)

# When "Setup Agent" appears, select "Firewall Configuration".

# SELinux is in Enforcing mode by default -- leave it that way!

# Go to Customize and allow SSH and HTTP in firewall

# Login as root with the password you specified in the installer

# Install all updates and reboot the machine:

yum -y update && reboot

# Add EPEL repo so that we can install mod_security, alpine, and wordpress

rpm -Uvh http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/5/i386/epel-release-5-3.noarch.rpm

# Configure EPEL repo to only update mod_security, lua, alpine, and wordpress packages

vi /etc/yum.repos.d/epel.repo

# add this line in the [epel] section:

includepkgs=mod_security* lua* alpine* wordpress*

# Exit vi by pressing Esc and then typing :wq

# Install blog, web server, and database

yum -y install alpine wordpress mysql-server

# Set services to start on boot and start them now

for i in httpd mysqld

do

chkconfig $i on

service $i start

done

# Secure the database

/usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation

# Follow the prompts and create a new MySQL root password

# Start the MySQL command-line client

mysql -p

# Enter the MySQL root password you just created

# Create a database and user and give user all privileges to DB

create database w0rdpressDB;

grant all privileges on w0rdpressDB.* to w0rdpressUser@localhost identified by 'MyReallyReallyStrongPassphrase';

flush privileges;

exit

# Configure Wordpress to use the database and user we just created

sed -i 's|putyourdbnamehere|w0rdpressDB|g' /etc/wordpress/wp-config.php

sed -i 's|usernamehere|w0rdpressUser|g' /etc/wordpress/wp-config.php

sed -i 's|yourpasswordhere|MyReallyReallyStrongPassphrase|g' /etc/wordpress/wp-config.php

# Finish Wordpress configuration by pointing a browser to:

# http://ip.of.centos.vm/wordpress

# Enter a Blog Title

# Enter "root@localhost.localdomain" (without the quotes) as your email address

# Click "Install Wordpress"

# Login using the randomly generated password

# Once logged in, change your password

# Look at logs in /var/log/httpd/

tail access_log

tail error_log

# Check email with alpine to see Welcome email from Wordpress

alpine

# At this point, we've got a basic Wordpress web server.

# Now let's add some layers of instrumentation to augment our defense-in-depth.

# Configure Wordpress to log to /var/log/messages using the WPsyslog2 plugin

cd /usr/share/wordpress/wp-content/plugins

wget http://www.ossec.net/files/other/wpsyslog2.tar.gz

tar zxvf wpsyslog2.tar.gz

# Wordpress admin interface --> activate WPsyslog2 plugin

# Test logging into Wordpress, creating/deleting posts, verify logging in /var/log/messages:

tail /var/log/messages

# Configure IPTables firewall to log any dropped packets to /var/log/messages

iptables -I RH-Firewall-1-INPUT 11 -j LOG --log-prefix="DROP "

service iptables save

tail -f /var/log/messages

# Launch an nmap scan from another host and watch the dropped packets being added to /var/log/messages

# WAF (Web Application Firewall)

yum -y install mod_security

# Configure WAF for extra logging

# Add the following lines to /etc/httpd/modsecurity.d/modsecurity_crs_10_config.conf

SecDataDir /tmp

SecAuditEngine on

SecAuditLog logs/modsec_audit.log

# Restart the web server to activate the mod_security module

service httpd restart

# Test WAF by accessing site by IP address instead of hostname

# Test WAF by trying to do an /etc/passwd attack

# Look at ModSecurity alerts in /var/log/httpd/modsec_audit.log

more /var/log/httpd/modsec_audit.log

# Look at rules in /etc/httpd/modsecurity.d/

# NIDS (Network Intrusion Detection System)

# Install Snort:

rpm -Uvh http://dl.snort.org/snort-current/snort-2.8.5.3-1.RH5.i386.rpm

# Install PulledPork for Snort rules management:

yum -y install perl-libwww-perl

cd /usr/local/src/

mkdir pulledpork && cd pulledpork

wget http://pulledpork.googlecode.com/files/pulledpork-0.3.4.tar.gz

tar zxvf pulledpork-0.3.4.tar.gz

cd pulledpork-0.3.4

# Edit the PulledPork configuration file using vi

vi pulledpork.conf

# and change the following configuration directives

oinkcode=InsertYourOinkcodeHere

tar_path=/bin/tar

rule_path=/etc/snort/rules/

sid_msg=/etc/snort/sid-msg.map

sid_changelog=/var/log/snort/sid_changes.log

#sorule_path=/usr/local/lib/snort_dynamicrules/

config_path=/etc/snort/snort.conf

distro=CentOS-5.0

# Exit vi

# Make pulledpork.pl executable

chmod +x pulledpork.pl

# Execute pulledpork.pl with the new configuration file

./pulledpork.pl -c pulledpork.conf

# Start Snort

service snortd start

# Test Snort with idswakeup and verify logs in /var/log/snort/

# HIDS (Host Intrusion Detection System)

yum -y install gcc

cd /usr/local/src/

mkdir ossec

wget http://www.ossec.net/files/ossec-hids-2.3.tar.gz

tar zxvf ossec-hids-2.3.tar.gz

cd ossec-hids-2.3

./install.sh

# Local installation

# Email to root@localhost

# Enable Active Response, add any IPs to whitelist that you don't want to ever block

# Configure HIDS to monitor WAF logs by editing ossec.conf using vi

vi /var/ossec/etc/ossec.conf

# and copying one of the existing localfile entries and setting:

# log_format to syslog

# location to /var/log/httpd/modsec_audit.log

# Exit vi by pressing Esc and then typing :wq

service ossec start

# Check root email using alpine

alpine

# Test HIDS alerting

# Test OSSEC Active Response using nmap, idswakeup, SSH brute force, Wordpress brute force

What else could we do for more defense in depth?

• Suhosin (PHP Hardening)
• GreenSQL (Database firewall)
• Daemonlogger (full packet capture for forensics purposes)
• Others?

Solutions for CSAW Exercises for a burgeoning Army of Ninjas

Mark Baggett posted some excellent videos at PaulDotCom showing solutions to the CSAW Exercises for a burgeoning Army of Ninjas:

http://pauldotcom.com/2010/01/csaw-challenge---reflections-o.html

Help Kill Adobe Flash - Enable HTML5 in Youtube

I'm joining Joel Esler in a quest to help kill Adobe Flash. Go to http://www.youtube.com/html5 to use HTML5 instead of Flash in your Youtube browsing.

Computer Security Training

SANS has a new web site for those interested in Computer Security Training:

Computer Security Training

Install Sguil on Fedora/RHEL/CentOS using NSMnow

I've written about NSMnow a few times before and I'm a big fan. They already had at least partial support for Fedora and I suggested to the developers some changes that would allow them to also support RHEL/CentOS. The SecurixLive team has done an amazing job with NSMnow (and Barnyard2) and things just keep getting better!

You can read more at the SecurixLive site:
Install Sguil on Fedora/RHEL/CentOS using NSMnow

SANS 401 Mentor class coming to Augusta!

I'll be mentoring SANS 401 Security Essentials in Augusta, GA on Tuesday nights starting January 12, 2010. ISSA members are eligible for a 25% discount!

SANS 401 Security Essentials mentored by Doug Burks in Augusta GA

Why should you take SANS 401 Security Essentials?

* Are you a Systems Administrator or Network Engineer who would like to learn more about security? This course gives a very thorough overview of security theory and practice. Additionally, the tools and techniques that you learn in this class are directly applicable to your current job (and will prepare you for the future).

* DoD 8570 Compliance. If you work for the Department of Defense (or would like to), DoD Mandate 8570 requires security certification for any employee performing Information Assurance (security) work. The Security Essentials certification is among those required for 8570. For more information, please see the SANS 8570 page.

* Complement your CISSP. If you've already taken the CISSP, SANS 401 Security Essentials is the perfect technical complement. It takes all the theory that you learned at a high level for the CISSP and applies it in a very practical and updated manner. SANS 401 is "where the rubber meets the road".

* Augment your Windows/Linux skills. Highly experienced with Windows, but not so much with Linux? Or the other way around? SANS 401 Security Essentials dedicates an entire section to Windows security and another entire section to Linux security.

* Considering the SANS GSE (GIAC Security Expert) or SANS Masters program? SANS 401 Security Essentials is required for both.

These are just a few reasons to register for SANS 401 Security Essentials. For more information, please see:

SANS 401 Security Essentials mentored by Doug Burks in Augusta GA

Don't forget that ISSA members are eligible for a 25% discount! If you would like to register for the ISSA and/or SANS 401, please let me know and I'll be glad to help get you registered.

Security Onion on Google Code and Google Groups

I've been getting more and more feedback on each successive release of the Security Onion LiveCD. Thanks to all those who've sent in your questions and comments! To help facilitate a better discussion, I've created a Google Code project and a Google Groups mailing list for Security Onion:
Security Onion on Google Code
Security Onion Wiki
Security Onion Issue Tracker
Security Onion Mailing List

Please take a look and let me know what you think!

Security Onion LiveCD 20090731

A new version of the Security Onion LiveCD has been released! Here's the changelog:

2009/07/31: New Release!
* All Xubuntu 9.04 updates as of 2009/07/31.
* Added sqlite and libsqlite3-ruby packages for db_autopwn.
* Added fwbuilder.
* Latest Metasploit msf v3.3-dev as of 2009/07/31.
* Latest Nmap 5.05BETA1 as of 2009/07/31.

The Security Onion LiveCD can be downloaded from the following location:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/security-onion/

Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Using Metasploit's db_autopwn on the Security Onion LiveCD

UPDATE: This issue has been fixed in the Security Onion LiveCD 20090731 release.

I was testing the new Security Onion LiveCD yesterday and trying to use Metasploit's db_autopwn function. The first step of db_autopwn is to create a database to hold the information about your potential targets. This is done with the db_create command. When I issued this command, I got an error about sqlite3 (the default database driver for db_autopwn).

I had forgotten to install the sqlite and libsqlite3-ruby packages. If you're having this problem, you can fix it with the following command:
sudo aptitude -y install sqlite libsqlite3-ruby

This will be fixed in the next release of the Security Onion LiveCD.

securityonion@securityonion:/usr/local/bin/framework3$ ./msfconsole

=[ msf v3.3-dev
+ -- --=[ 392 exploits - 234 payloads
+ -- --=[ 20 encoders - 7 nops
=[ 168 aux

msf > db_create
[*] Creating a new database instance...
[-] Error while running command db_create: no such file to load -- sqlite3
msf > quit

securityonion@securityonion:/usr/local/bin/framework3$ sudo aptitude -y install sqlite libsqlite3-ruby
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
libsqlite0{a} libsqlite3-ruby libsqlite3-ruby1.8{a} sqlite
0 packages upgraded, 4 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 247kB of archives. After unpacking 811kB will be used.
Writing extended state information... Done
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/main libsqlite0 2.8.17-4build1 [176kB]
Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/universe libsqlite3-ruby1.8 1.2.4-2 [51.3kB]
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/universe libsqlite3-ruby 1.2.4-2 [4042B]
Get:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/main sqlite 2.8.17-4build1 [16.2kB]
Fetched 247kB in 1s (150kB/s)
Selecting previously deselected package libsqlite0.
(Reading database ... 118520 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking libsqlite0 (from .../libsqlite0_2.8.17-4build1_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libsqlite3-ruby1.8.
Unpacking libsqlite3-ruby1.8 (from .../libsqlite3-ruby1.8_1.2.4-2_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package libsqlite3-ruby.
Unpacking libsqlite3-ruby (from .../libsqlite3-ruby_1.2.4-2_all.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package sqlite.
Unpacking sqlite (from .../sqlite_2.8.17-4build1_i386.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up libsqlite0 (2.8.17-4build1) ...

Setting up libsqlite3-ruby1.8 (1.2.4-2) ...
Setting up libsqlite3-ruby (1.2.4-2) ...
Setting up sqlite (2.8.17-4build1) ...
Processing triggers for libc6 ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reading extended state information
Initializing package states... Done
Writing extended state information... Done

securityonion@securityonion:/usr/local/bin/framework3$ ./msfconsole

=[ msf v3.3-dev
+ -- --=[ 392 exploits - 234 payloads
+ -- --=[ 20 encoders - 7 nops
=[ 168 aux

msf > db_create
[*] Creating a new database instance...
[*] Successfully connected to the database
[*] File: /home/securityonion/.msf3/sqlite3.db
msf >

Security Onion LiveCD 20090724

A new version of the Security Onion LiveCD has been released! Here's the changelog:

* All Xubuntu 9.04 updates as of 2009/07/24.
* Added a Security Onion section to the Applications menu.
* Latest Metasploit msf v3.3-dev as of 2009/07/24.
* Latest Nmap as of 2009/07/24.

The Security Onion LiveCD can be downloaded from the following location:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/security-onion/

Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

Know Thy ISP

From http://www.pcworld.com/article/168160/ussouth_korea_cyberattack_lessons_learned.html:

"Investigators may not yet know who was behind a series of cyberattacks on the U.S. and South Korea, but analysts are getting a better grasp on where the nations' governments may have gone wrong. Numerous government Web sites in both countries have been hit by distributed denial-of-service attacks, starting on the Fourth of July and continuing into today. Dozens of high-profile sites have been targeted, including those of the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Treasury, and other major federal agencies."

Quote of the day:

"'Too many federal agency security people did not know which network service provider connected their Web sites to the Internet,' explains Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, a security research organization."

Alan's statement is quite scary, but I'm sure quite true. When the killer clowns come knocking at your firewall's door, you need to be able to pull the plug in a hurry. Perhaps we should have Internet fire drills where we propose a mock DDoS attack and have our technicians play out the scenario. Who ya gonna call?

SANS Courses for the US-CERT GFIRST conference in August

Announcement from SANS:

"In August, SANS will be running 5 tracks in support of the US-CERT GFIRST conference taking place at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center (http://www.us-cert.gov/GFIRST/). SANS is pleased to present the following course offerings:

Security 501: Advanced Security Essentials - Enterprise Defender
http://www.sans.org/atlanta09/description.php?tid=2722
August 17-22

Security 504: Hacker Techniques, Exploits & Incident Handling
http://www.sans.org/atlanta09/description.php?tid=243
August 17-22

Security 441: Windows Forensics
http://www.sans.org/atlanta09/description.php?tid=3012
August 27-28

Security 553: Metasploit for Penetration Testers
http://www.sans.org/atlanta09/description.php?tid=3022
August 27

Security 517: Cutting-Edge Hacking Techniques
http://www.sans.org/atlanta09/description.php?tid=1927
August 28

This will be the first time we are offering Security 501 and a rare opportunity to take this course from Dr. Eric Cole in a small class setting. We are also offering 3 short courses which offer a great opportunity to get SANS content in only 1 or 2 days."

Suggestions for the Security Onion LiveCD

I'm currently working on the next version of the Security Onion LiveCD. What specific packages/features would you like to see added to the Security Onion LiveCD? Post a comment here or contact me on Twitter. Thanks!

Security Onion LiveCD 20090613

A new version of the Security Onion LiveCD is now available! Here's the changelog:

-All Xubuntu 9.04 updates as of 2009/06/13.

-Added JJ Cummings's pulledpork as an alternative to oinkmaster. All pulledpork files are in:
/usr/local/bin/pulledpork/

-Added Leon Ward's dumbpig for checking custom Snort rules:
/usr/local/bin/dumbpig.pl

-Added Bro IDS for Marcus J. Carey. All Bro files are in:
/usr/local/bro/

The Security Onion LiveCD can be downloaded from the following location:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/security-onion/

UPDATE: Some ibiblio mirrors are showing an index page which contains no links. Here are the direct links to the ISO and MD5 file:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/security-onion/security-onion-livecd-20090613.iso
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/security-onion/security-onion-livecd-20090613.md5

The Security Onion LiveCD is now available!

The Security Onion LiveCD is now available! You can download it from the following location:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/security-onion/

What is it?
The Security Onion LiveCD is a bootable CD that contains software used for installing, configuring, and testing Intrusion Detection Systems.

What software does it contain?
The Security Onion LiveCD is based on Xubuntu 9.04 and contains Snort 2.8.4.1, Snort 3.0.0b3 (Beta), sguil, idswakeup, nmap, metasploit, scapy, hping, fragroute, fragrouter, netcat, paketto, tcpreplay, and many other security tools.

What can it be used for?

• The Security Onion LiveCD can be used for Intrusion Detection. Simply boot the CD and double-click either the Snort-Sguil or SnortSP-Sguil desktop shortcuts. The Snort and Sguil daemons will then start, listening on eth0 for any suspicious traffic and creating alerts in the Sguil console.
• The Security Onion LiveCD can be used to test an Intrusion Detection System. Simply boot the CD and use the included tools (such as nmap, metasploit, idswakeup, scapy, hping, and others) to test your existing IDS or to test the included Snort 2.8.4.1 and Snort 3.0 Beta 3.
• The Security Onion LiveCD can be used to install an Intrusion Detection System. Simply boot the CD and double-click the Install desktop shortcut. For more information about installation, please see the README desktop shortcut.

You can read more about the Security Onion LiveCD (and, specifically, the integration of Snort 3.0 and Sguil) in my SANS GCIA Gold Paper "Snort 3.0 Beta 3 for Analysts".

Please take a look at the Security Onion LiveCD and let me know what you think!

* Special thanks to:

• Marty Roesch and the whole SourceFire team for all of their work these last 10 years to get Snort to where it is today.
  
• The Sguil team for the best open-source tool to manage Snort alerts.
  
• The SecurixLive crew for their awesome NSMnow installer, the easiest way to install and configure Snort/Sguil on Ubuntu Linux.
• Ubuntu (and Debian) for their well-made Linux distribution(s).
• The Reconstructor team for a very easy to use tool for remastering Ubuntu LiveCDs.
• All developers in the open-source community who work so hard and produce such amazing tools.
  

Sguil on Ubuntu 9.04 in 3 Steps using NSMnow

My previous Sguil/NSMnow recipes used Ubuntu 8.04. I thought I'd play with the new Ubuntu 9.04 and see if there were any differences. It looks like there is a new AppArmor profile for tcpdump that we'll have to configure if we want to pull session transcripts using Sguil. (This is in addition to the AppArmor profile for MySQL that we were already having to configure to allow it to read the load directory.) These steps have been formatted so that you can copy/paste them into your terminal.

Disclaimer: I offer no warranties of any kind. If your box breaks, you get to keep both pieces!

Step 1: Get root privileges

##########################
sudo -i
##########################

Step 2: Install NSMnow

##########################
mkdir /usr/local/src/NSMnow
cd /usr/local/src/NSMnow
wget http://www.securixlive.com/download/nsmnow/NSMnow-1.4.0.tar.gz
tar zxvf NSMnow-1.4.0.tar.gz
./NSMnow -i -y
##########################

Step 3: Configure AppArmor and start NSMnow

##########################
if ! grep "/nsm/server_data/server1/load" /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld > /dev/null
then
# Remove the last line of the file (a single right curly brace)
sed -i '$d' /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld
# Add a line that allows MySQL to read the load directory
echo " /nsm/server_data/server1/load/* r," >> /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld
# Append the right curly brace to end the file
echo "}" >> /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld
fi
if ! grep "/nsm/sensor_data/sensor1/dailylogs" /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.tcpdump > /dev/null
then
# Remove the last line of the file (a single right curly brace)
sed -i '$d' /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.tcpdump
# Add a line that allows tcpdump to read all dailylogs
echo " /nsm/sensor_data/sensor1/dailylogs/**[^/] r," >> /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.tcpdump
echo "}" >> /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.tcpdump
fi
/etc/init.d/apparmor restart
/usr/local/sbin/nsm --all --start
##########################

Snort is now capturing packets on eth0 and analyzing them. Let's verify that now.

Launch the Sguil client by opening a new terminal and typing the following:

##########################
sguil.tk
##########################

When prompted, login to Sguil using the default credentials:
Username: sguil
Password: password

Next, create some alerts by opening a browser and going to:
http://www.testmyids.com

Finally, go into the Sguil console and you should see two new alerts:


This demonstrates that Snort is analyzing packets and outputting in unified2 format, which is then read by Barnyard2 and inserted into the Sguil database.

When finished, close the Sguil window and return to your NSMnow window. Then type the following to terminate all NSMnow processes:
/usr/local/sbin/nsm --all --stop

Announcing Detroit Dave's Raves

One of my SANS 503 Mentor students has started his own blog. Check it out at:
http://detroitdavesraves.blogspot.com/

How a Single Piece of Paper Can Saturate a WAN Link

At work, one of our remote business units was experiencing slowness in their WAN link. Our Network Architect began looking into the problem and found that one particular device on their network was sending enormous amounts of traffic over the link. Looking into it further, he discovered that the device was one of our security cameras in the business unit's server room. He then came to see us and asked about the camera.

This particular camera is motion-activated and therefore shouldn't have been capturing all the time, but it was. We looked at some of the videos and, at first, didn't see anything out of the ordinary. After racking our brains for a few minutes, we finally noticed that there was a piece of paper taped to the front of one of the server racks. The paper was taped in the middle, allowing the sides to flap in the wind of the air conditioner. This created just enough motion to trigger the camera to record and transmit its video.

All of this resulted in a call to the technician at the business unit that went something like this:

"We've discovered the problem with your WAN link. Please go to your server room and remove the piece of paper taped to the front of the server rack. Your WAN link should then magically speed up. Thank you."

My modest proposal is that paper is obviously increasing our bandwidth costs and we should therefore go completely paperless.

SANS GCIA Gold Paper on Snort 3.0 Beta 3

My SANS GCIA Gold Paper on Snort 3.0 Beta 3 has been posted to the SANS Reading Room!

Wireshark 1.0.7 is out!

Wireshark 1.0.7 has been released. Please upgrade ASAP! For more information about the release, please see:
http://www.wireshark.org/docs/relnotes/wireshark-1.0.7.html

Snort 2.8.4 is out!

Snort 2.8.4 has been released. From http://www.snort.org/pub-bin/snortnews.cgi#864:

Snort 2.8.4 is now available on snort.org, at http://www.snort.org/dl/

Snort 2.8.4 introduces:

- A revised DCE/RPC preprocessor with more rule options

With the new DCE/RPC preprocessor, there will be a number of updates to the rules. Please be sure to update your rules to the latest when that package is available (next few days).

- Support for IPv6 in Frag3 and all application preprocessors

- Improved target-based support in preprocessors

- Option to automatically pre-filter traffic that is not inspected in order to improve performance

- Several other improvements and fixes

Please see the release notes and changelog for more details.

Please submit bugs, questions, and feedback to bugs@snort.org.

Happy Snorting!
The Snort Release Team

For more information about the new DCERPC rules, please see:
http://www.snort.org/vrt/advisories/vrt-rules-2009-04-08.html

Snort 3.0 (SnortSP) Beta 3 -- Inline Bridging Mode in 3 Steps

To complete the updating of my 3-part series on Installing and Configuring Snort 3 Beta 3, I now present to you the final chapter in this trilogy: the updated recipe for Snort 3 Inline Bridging Mode in 3 Steps. Snort 3.0 Beta 3 has changed the syntax for creating a new dsrc, so this has been reflected in the new recipe.

Step 1: Add a new function to your snort.lua file
If you followed the updated Snort 3.0 Beta 3 Installation HOWTO, then the default snort.lua file is in /etc/snortsp/snort.lua. Open the file and add the following function:

function bridge (interface1, interface2)
if interface2 == nil then
error("Two interface strings must be specified ( e.g. bridge(\"eth0\", \"eth1\") )")
end
dsrc1 = {name="src1",
type="afpacket",
intf=interface1..":"..interface2,
flags=10,
snaplen=1514,
display="none",
tcp={maxflows=262144, maxidle=30, flow_memcap=10000000},
other={maxflows=131072, maxidle=30, flow_memcap=1000000},
cksum_mode=0x0,
}
dsrc.new(dsrc1)
eng.new({name="e1"})
eng.link({engine="e1", source="src1"})
eng.start("e1")
end

Step 2: Start SnortSP
Start SnortSP using the following command:

sudo snortsp -L /etc/snortsp/snort.lua

SnortSP will start up and read your new snort.lua file. You will then be greeted by the SnortSP Lua shell.

Step 3: Use the bridge() function
In the Lua shell, type the following (replacing eth0 and eth1 with the correct interfaces on your system):

bridge("eth0", "eth1")

Once the bridge is up and running, you can do the following to display packets traversing the bridge:

eng.set_display({engine="e1", display="none"})
Press the Up arrow and change "none" to "classic".
View the output.
Press the Up arrow twice to retrieve the "none" command and press Enter.

When finished, shut down SnortSP by running the following command:

ssp.shutdown()

Integrating Snort 3.0 Beta 3 and Sguil in 3 Steps

Since I updated the "Installing Snort 3.0 Beta on Ubuntu 8.04" post to work with Snort 3.0 Beta 3, here's the update for the "Integrating Snort 3.0 (SnortSP) and Sguil in 3 Steps" post. Since the original post, NSMnow 1.3.5 has been released, so the URL has been updated in the recipe to reflect this new version. Also, there appears to be a bug in the current sspiffy.sh whereby it configures the dsrc type to be "file" instead of "pcap". I added a quick one-liner to correct this in the snort.lua file.

Please note that if you have an existing NSMnow installation, following this recipe may or may not work. This recipe is designed for new NSMnow installations.

The best open source tool to manage Snort alerts is Sguil and the easiest way to install Sguil is using NSMnow. NSMnow automatically installs and configures barnyard2 (compatible with SnortSP's unfied2 format), sancp, Sguil, and Snort 2.x. We're going to replace NSMnow's snort alert process with Snort 3.0.

This quick recipe assumes that you're running on Ubuntu 8.04 and your primary network interface is eth0. You should be able to copy/paste each of the three code blocks into your terminal.

Obligatory disclaimer: I offer no warranty of any kind. If this breaks your box, you get to keep both pieces.

Step 1: Get root privileges

##########################
sudo -i
##########################

Step 2: Install NSMnow

##########################
mkdir /usr/local/src/NSMnow
cd /usr/local/src/NSMnow
wget http://www.securixlive.com/download/nsmnow/NSMnow-1.3.5.tar.gz
tar zxvf NSMnow-1.3.5.tar.gz
./NSMnow -i -y
##########################

Step 3: Configure NSMnow and SnortSP and start

##########################
if ! grep "/nsm/server_data/server1/load" /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld > /dev/null
then
sed -i 's|}| /nsm/server_data/server1/load/* r,|g' /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld
echo "}" >> /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld
fi
/etc/init.d/apparmor restart
/usr/local/sbin/nsm --server --start
/usr/local/sbin/nsm_sensor_ps-start --skip-snort-alert
mkdir /etc/snortsp_alert
cd /etc/snortsp_alert
cp -R /etc/nsm/sensor1/* .
mv snort.conf snort_orig.conf
sspiffy.sh /usr/local -c snort_orig.conf -i eth0
sed -i 's|type="file"|type="pcap"|g' snort.lua
grep -v "sameip" rules/bad-traffic.rules > rules/bad-traffic.rules.2
rm -f rules/bad-traffic.rules
mv rules/bad-traffic.rules.2 rules/bad-traffic.rules
snortsp -C -L snort.lua
##########################

Snort 3.0 is now capturing packets on eth0 and analyzing them. Let's verify that now.

Launch the Sguil client by opening a new terminal and typing the following:

##########################
sguil.tk
##########################

When prompted, login to Sguil using the default credentials:
Username: sguil
Password: password

Next, create some alerts by opening a browser and going to:
http://www.testmyids.com

Finally, go into the Sguil console and you should see two new alerts:


This demonstrates that SnortSP is capturing packets, analyzing them with the Snort 2.8.2 Detection Engine, and outputting in unified2 format, which is then read by Barnyard2 and inserted into the Sguil database.

When finished, return to your SnortSP window and press ctrl-c to terminate the SnortSP process. Then type "nsm --all --stop" to terminate all NSMnow processes.

Installing Snort 3.0 (SnortSP) Beta 3 on Ubuntu 8.04 in 3 Steps

Snort 3.0 Beta 3 was released on April 1. You can read an overview of the changes in Snort 3.0 Beta 3 in the mailing list announcement. For more details on the underlying architectural changes in Beta 3, see Marty Roesch's blog. Thanks to Marty and the rest of the Snort 3 Development Team for their hard work in this release!

Installing Snort 3.0 Beta 3 on Ubuntu 8.04 is almost identical to installing Snort 3.0 Beta 2 on Ubuntu 8.04. However, I did have an issue with the Snort 2.8 Detection Engine not compiling correctly. This turned out to be libtool not liking the fact that /bin/sh was symlinked to /bin/dash instead of /bin/bash. The one-line fix was:

rm /bin/sh && ln -s /bin/bash /bin/sh

(Special thanks to Russ Combs of the SnortSP development team for his assistance with this issue.)

Here's the complete install recipe that worked for me:

Step 1: Get root privileges

##########################
sudo -i
##########################

Step 2: Install dependencies

##########################
aptitude update
aptitude -y install build-essential \
libdumbnet1 libdumbnet-dev \
uuid uuid-dev \
libncurses5 libncurses5-dev \
libreadline5 libreadline5-dev \
libpcap0.8 libpcap0.8-dev \
libpcre3 libpcre3-dev \
liblua5.1-0 liblua5.1-0-dev \
flex bison
##########################

Step 3: Download, compile, and install Snort 3.0 Beta 3

##########################
rm /bin/sh && ln -s /bin/bash /bin/sh
cd /usr/local/src/
wget http://dl.snort.org/snortsp/\
snortsp-3.0.0b3.tar.gz
tar zxvf snortsp-3.0.0b3.tar.gz
cd snortsp-3.0.0b3/
./configure
make
make install
mkdir /etc/snortsp/
cp etc/* /etc/snortsp/
cd src/analysis/snort/
./configure \
--with-platform-includes=/usr/local/include \
--with-platform-libraries=/usr/local/lib
make
make install
ldconfig
##########################

Snort 3.0 (SnortSP) Inline Bridging Mode in 3 Steps

One of the many interesting new features in Snort 3.0 (SnortSP) is the ability to run in inline bridging mode.

Step 1: Add a new function to your snort.lua file
If you followed my previous SnortSP Installation HOWTO, then the default snort.lua file is in /etc/SnortSP/snort.lua. Open the file and add the following function:

function bridge(interface1, interface2)
if interface1 == nil then
error("Two interfaces must be specified ( e.g. bridge(\"eth0\", \"eth1\") )")
end
if interface2 == nil then
error("Two interfaces must be specified ( e.g. bridge(\"eth0\", \"eth1\") )")
end
dsrc2 = {name="src2",
type="afpacket",
intf=interface1..":"..interface2,
flags=10,
snaplen=1518,
maxflows=262144,
maxidle=300,
flow_memcap=10000000}
dsrc.new(dsrc2)
eng.new("e2")
eng.link({engine="e2", source="src2"})
eng.start("e2")
end

Step 2: Start SnortSP
Start SnortSP using the following command:

sudo snortsp -L /etc/SnortSP/snort.lua

SnortSP will start up and read your new snort.lua file. You will then be greeted by the SnortSP Lua shell.

Step 3: Use the bridge() function
In the Lua shell, type the following (replacing eth0 and eth1 with the correct interfaces on your system):

bridge("eth0", "eth1")

Once the bridge is up and running, you can do the following to display packets traversing the bridge:

eng.set_display({engine="e2", display="none"})
Press the Up arrow and change "none" to "classic".
View the output.
Press the Up arrow twice to retrieve the "none" command and press Enter.

When finished, shut down SnortSP by running the following command:

ssp.shutdown()

Note that there is a bug in the SnortSP README file (and/or the SnortSP afpacket DAQ itself). The README file suggests the following:

      dsrc1 = {name="src",
             type="afpacket",
             intf="eth2:eth3",
             flags=10,
             snaplen=0,
             maxflows=262144,
             maxidle=300,
             flow_memcap=10000000}
    dsrc.new(dsrc1)

Setting snaplen to 0 and passing traffic through the bridge results in segmentation fault. Per the SnortSP developers, this value should be set to 1518 for normal ethernet operation. Thanks to the SnortSP developers for their assistance with this issue.

Integrating Snort 3.0 (SnortSP) and Sguil in 3 Steps

So once you have Snort 3.0 installed, what can you do with it? One thing you can do with it (and the one that most people are interested in) is to configure it for IDS mode. The Snort 3.0 architecture includes the Snort 2.8.2 Detection Engine, so we'll have the Snort Security Platform (SnortSP) capturing packets and handing them off to Snort 2.8.2 for analysis and alerting.

The best open source tool to manage Snort alerts is Sguil and the easiest way to install Sguil is using NSMnow. NSMnow automatically installs and configures barnyard2 (compatible with SnortSP's unfied2 format), sancp, Sguil, and Snort 2.x. We're going to replace NSMnow's snort alert process with Snort 3.0.

This quick recipe assumes that you're running on Ubuntu 8.04 and your primary network interface is eth0. You should be able to copy/paste each of the three code blocks into your terminal.

Obligatory disclaimer: I offer no warranty of any kind. If this breaks your box, you get to keep both pieces.

Step 1: Get root privileges

##########################
sudo -i
##########################

Step 2: Install NSMnow

##########################
mkdir /usr/local/src/NSMnow
cd /usr/local/src/NSMnow
wget http://www.securixlive.com/download/nsmnow/NSMnow-1.3.4.tar.gz
tar zxvf NSMnow-1.3.4.tar.gz
./NSMnow -i -y
##########################

Step 3: Configure NSMnow and SnortSP and start

##########################
if ! grep "/nsm/server_data/server1/load" /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld > /dev/null
then
sed -i 's|}| /nsm/server_data/server1/load/* r,|g' /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld
echo "}" >> /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld
fi
/etc/init.d/apparmor restart
/usr/local/sbin/nsm --server --start
/usr/local/sbin/nsm_sensor_ps-start --skip-snort-alert
mkdir /etc/snortsp_alert
cd /etc/snortsp_alert
cp -R /etc/nsm/sensor1/* .
mv snort.conf snort_orig.conf
sspiffy.sh /usr/local -c snort_orig.conf -i eth0
grep -v "sameip" rules/bad-traffic.rules > rules/bad-traffic.rules.2
rm -f rules/bad-traffic.rules
mv rules/bad-traffic.rules.2 rules/bad-traffic.rules
snortsp -C -L snort.lua
##########################

Snort 3.0 is now capturing packets on eth0 and analyzing them. Let's verify that now.

Launch the Sguil client by opening a new terminal and typing the following:

##########################
sguil.tk
##########################

When prompted, login to Sguil using the default credentials:
Username: sguil
Password: password

Next, create some alerts by opening a browser and going to:
http://www.testmyids.com

Finally, go into the Sguil console and you should see two new alerts:


This demonstrates that SnortSP is capturing packets, analyzing them with the Snort 2.8.2 Detection Engine, and outputting in unified2 format, which is then read by Barnyard2 and inserted into the Sguil database.

When finished, return to your SnortSP window and press ctrl-c to terminate the SnortSP process. Then type "nsm --all --stop" to terminate all NSMnow processes.

Installing Snort 3.0 (SnortSP) on Ubuntu in 3 Steps

Here's a really quick recipe for installing the Snort 3.0 Architecture on Ubuntu 8.04. Note that the Snort 3.0 Architecture consists of the SnortSP framework and the Snort 2.8.2 Detection Engine. You should be able to open a terminal and then copy/paste each of the three blocks of commands.

Step 1: Get root privileges

##########################
sudo -i
##########################

Step 2: Install dependencies

##########################
aptitude update
aptitude -y install build-essential \
libdumbnet1 libdumbnet-dev \
uuid uuid-dev \
libncurses5 libncurses5-dev \
libreadline5 libreadline5-dev \
libpcap0.8 libpcap0.8-dev \
libpcre3 libpcre3-dev \
liblua5.1-0 liblua5.1-0-dev \
flex bison
##########################

Step 3: Download, compile, and install the Snort 3.0 Architecture

##########################
cd /usr/local/src/
wget http://www.snort.org/dl/prerelease\
/3.0.0-b2/snortsp-3.0.0b2.tar.gz
tar zxvf snortsp-3.0.0b2.tar.gz
cd snortsp-3.0.0b2/
./configure
make
make install
mkdir /etc/SnortSP/
cp etc/* /etc/SnortSP/
cd src/analysis/snort/
./configure \
--with-platform-includes=/usr/local/include/snortsp \
--with-platform-libraries=/usr/local/lib
make
make install
ldconfig
##########################

Future posts will cover where to go from here.

NSMnow 1.3

I previously discussed the NSMnow project. These guys have made tremendous progress in the last few weeks and have fixed the bugs that I notified them of. They are now at version 1.3. Go check it out!

SANS 503 Mentor class is full

Registration is now closed for the previously mentioned SANS 503 Mentor class here in Augusta. This was the first SANS Mentor class to sell out in a few years! Thanks to all who registered.

Links for Binary and Hex Refreshers

If you're about to take SANS 503 and it's been a while since you've had to deal with the world of binary and hex, here are a few good links for refreshing your memory:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexadecimal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_numeral_system
http://www.underground-security.com/downloads/crew/frostbyte/tutorials/conversions-tutorial.php
http://www.blaenkdenum.com/binary-and-hexadecimal/
http://www.permadi.com/tutorial/numHexToBin/index.html
http://atrevida.comprenica.com/atrtut01.html
http://www.sans.org/training/tcpip_quiz.php

Creating md5 and sha1 hashes using dcfldd

Have you ever been in a situation where you needed to calculate multiple hashes (md5 and sha1, for example) of a large drive image, but you didn't want to wait the long time it would take to do the following?

md5 image.dd
sha1 image.dd

dcfldd can calculate multiple hashes at the same time. All you have to do is set dcfldd's output to /dev/null like this:

dcfldd if=image.dd of=/dev/null hash=md5,sha1
512 blocks (16Mb) written.Total (md5): 95581c2eb1d0e18d4c9d0a08f06e1b28
Total (sha1): f80c5845df633e5ed586cf5006a746cc648abd9a

572+1 records in
572+1 records out

2009 SANS Log Management Survey

SANS is researching how organizations handle log management. Please take 5 minutes out of your day and complete the following survey (I did):
SANS Log Management Survey

Reminder about SANS 503 training here in Augusta

We have less than 2 weeks to go before the January 20 deadline for the best deal on SANS 503 Intrusion Detection training here in Augusta! If you're not an ISSA member already, you can join today (only $120.00) and take advantage of the 40% discount for ISSA members. ISSA Members who wish to register for the class should contact me or one of the other chapter leaders for the Discount Registration code.

For further information, please see:
http://www.sans.org/mentor/details.php?nid=15354

Upgrading from Fedora 9 to Fedora 10 using Preupgrade

A few months ago, I upgraded from Fedora 8 to Fedora 9 using Preupgrade. Last night, I decided it was time to upgrade to Fedora 10 (F10), so I went the Preupgrade route again.

I did a yum update and then launched preupgrade. It downloaded all the necessary F10 RPMs and said it was ready for reboot. I rebooted into the installer and was greeted with an error message saying it couldn't find the RPM repository. I surmised that the installer hadn't mounted my /var partition (Preupgrade creates a local RPM repository at /var/cache/yum/preupgrade/). I did some searching and found Bugzilla bug 473782, which describes this exact problem. The fix was to reboot back into Fedora 9 and install Preupgrade 1.0.1-1 from the testing repository with the following command:

yum --enablerepo=updates-testing-newkey update preupgrade

I then launched Preupgrade again, rebooted into the installer, and successfully upgraded from Fedora 9 to Fedora 10. I rebooted into Fedora 10 and did a full yum update. I then noticed that I couldn't SSH into this Fedora 10 machine using SSH keys anymore. I did some more searching and found Bugzilla bug 473014. It seems that the upgrade process changes the SELinux security context on the user .ssh directories. The fix is to run the following command as root:

restorecon -r /home/*/.ssh

Haven't seen any other problems so far.