Maximum Security: A Hacker's Guide to Protecting Your Internet Site and Network

Description

A grand compilation of tidbits on Internet security. Lists many system- and version-specific vulnerabilities, along with attacks, attack tools and countermeasures. Easy reading (if somewhat verbose) as introductory material but technically too superficial to be used as a reference. It nevertheless provides a wealth of bibliographic pointers and covers Windows as well as Unix. The Macintosh occasionally gets a token mention but is not treated in any detail. Wide rather than deep ("the children's---or maybe the journalists'---encyclopedia of Internet security"), it does contain some nuggets but on the whole there are more useful books on the subject. Because of the way the book is arranged, with emphasis on specific holes and attacks rather than general principles, it will quickly become outdated.
NB: this review refers to the 1997 edition and the core of it was originally written in 1999. I have not read any of the subsequent editions. IV Platforms and Security......Page 1 VIII Appendixes......Page 2 About the Author......Page 3 Introduction......Page 4 This material is provided "as is" without any warranty of any kind.......Page 10 Why Did I Write This Book?......Page 11 Misconfiguration of the Victim Host......Page 12 The Active State......Page 13 System Flaws or Deficiency of Vendor Response......Page 15 Why Education in Security Is Important......Page 17 The Corporate Sector......Page 18 Operating Systems......Page 19 How Will This Book Affect the Internet Community?......Page 20 Summary......Page 21 Using This Book Effectively: Who Are You?......Page 23 What This Book Offers the System Administrator......Page 24 Business Person......Page 25 What This Book Offers the Casual User......Page 26 The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly......Page 27 Part III: Tools......Page 28 Part V: Beginning at Ground Zero......Page 29 Timeliness......Page 30 Summary......Page 31 Mens Rea......Page 33 Computer Languages......Page 34 Randal Schwartz......Page 35 Where Did This All Start?......Page 37 Table 3.1. Boxes and their uses.......Page 38 The Situation Today: A Network at War......Page 40 The Hackers......Page 41 The Crackers......Page 42 Summary......Page 43 The Request For Comments (RFC) System......Page 44 A Holiday Message......Page 45 Government......Page 46 SATAN and Other Tools......Page 47 Education and Awareness About Security......Page 50 High-Profile Cases......Page 51 Can the United States Protect the National Information Infrastructure?......Page 53 Who Holds the Cards?......Page 54 The Public Sector......Page 55 Panix.com......Page 56 Crack dot Com......Page 57 Kevin Mitnik......Page 58 Summary......Page 61 Security Through Obscurity......Page 62 Lack of Education......Page 63 The Genesis of an Advisory......Page 64 The Dissemination of Information......Page 66 The Problems with PC-Based Operating Systems......Page 67 The Internet's Design......Page 68 Anonymity on the Net......Page 70 ActiveX......Page 72 Table 5.1. Some major security sites for information and tools.......Page 74 Human Nature......Page 75 Does the Internet Really Need to Be Secure?......Page 76 Summary......Page 77 What Is TCP/IP?......Page 78 The History of TCP/IP......Page 79 Table 6.1. Platforms and their support for TCP/IP.......Page 80 How Does TCP/IP Work?......Page 81 Network-Level Protocols......Page 82 The Internet Control Message Protocol......Page 83 The Internet Protocol......Page 84 The Transmission Control Protocol......Page 85 The Ports......Page 86 Telnet......Page 87 File Transfer Protocol......Page 88 Table 6.5. FTP servers for various operating systems.......Page 89 Gopher......Page 90 Hypertext Transfer Protocol......Page 91 Network News Transfer Protocol......Page 92 TCP/IP Is the Internet......Page 93 Summary......Page 94 Birth of a Network: The Internet......Page 95 What Is C?......Page 97 Interpreted Programming Languages......Page 98 Compiled Languages......Page 99 Modern C: The All-Purpose Language......Page 100 Advantages of C......Page 101 UNIX......Page 102 Table 7.2. Commercial versions of UNIX and their manufacturers.......Page 104 Say, What About a Windowing System?......Page 105 Table 7.4. Common windowing systems in UNIX.......Page 106 UNIX in Relation to Internet Security......Page 107 The Internet: How Big Is It?......Page 109 The Future......Page 110 Summary......Page 111 Internet Warfare......Page 112 The E-Mail Bomb......Page 114 List Linking......Page 116 Internet Relay Chat Utilities......Page 118 Virus Infections and Trojan Horses......Page 120 Cracking......Page 122 Table 8.2. Newsreaders by platform.......Page 123 Internet Service Providers......Page 126 Table 8.3. Various logging and snooping utilities of interest.......Page 128 The Government......Page 130 Summary......Page 131 Scanners......Page 132 What System Requirements Are Necessary to Run a Scanner?......Page 133 Are Scanners Legal?......Page 134 Historical Background......Page 135 Table 9.1. Online mailing lists of security holes.......Page 136 Locating a Potential Target......Page 138 Looking for WebForce Models......Page 139 Using Scanners to Uncover WebForce Models......Page 140 host......Page 142 Traceroute......Page 144 rusers and finger......Page 145 Showmount......Page 146 On Macintosh......Page 147 NSS (Network Security Scanner)......Page 148 Strobe......Page 150 Pointers......Page 151 SATAN (Security Administrator's Tool for Analyzing Networks)......Page 152 Jakal......Page 153 IdentTCPscan......Page 154 XSCAN......Page 155 From ISS to SAFEsuite......Page 156 Notes on the Server Configuration......Page 157 Table 9.3. Installation requirements for SAFEsuite.......Page 158 Configuration......Page 159 The rlogin Bug......Page 160 The Other Side of the Fence......Page 162 Other Platforms......Page 163 Network Toolbox......Page 164 Summary......Page 165 What Is a Password Cracker?......Page 167 ROT-13......Page 170 DES and Crypt......Page 172 The Password-Cracking Process......Page 174 The Mechanics of Password Cracking......Page 175 Crack by Alec Muffett......Page 176 CrackerJack by Jackal......Page 178 Qcrack by the Crypt Keeper......Page 179 John the Ripper by Solar Designer......Page 180 Hades by Remote and Zabkar (?)......Page 181 Killer Cracker by Doctor Dissector......Page 182 XIT by Roche'Crypt......Page 183 Claymore by the Grenadier......Page 184 Merlin by Computer Incident Advisory Capability (CIAC) DOE......Page 185 ZipCrack by Michael A. Quinlan......Page 186 AMI Decode (Author Unknown)......Page 187 PGPCrack by Mark Miller......Page 188 Password NT by Midwestern Commerce, Inc.......Page 189 About UNIX Password Security......Page 190 Other Sources and Documents......Page 194 Summary......Page 195 What Is a Trojan?......Page 196 Where Do Trojans Come From?......Page 197 Where Might One Find a Trojan?......Page 199 C'mon! How Often Are Trojans Really Discovered?......Page 200 How Does One Detect a Trojan?......Page 202 MD5......Page 205 TripWire......Page 206 TAMU......Page 207 ATP (The Anti-Tampering Program)......Page 208 On Other Platforms......Page 209 Resources......Page 210 About Ethernet......Page 213 The Composition of an Ethernet Network......Page 214 What Level of Risk Do Sniffers Represent?......Page 217 Has Anyone Actually Seen a Sniffer Attack?......Page 218 What Information Is Most Commonly Gotten from a Sniffer?......Page 219 Gobbler (Tirza van Rijn)......Page 220 ETHLOAD (Vyncke, Vyncke, Blondiau, Ghys, Timmermans, Hotterbeex, Khronis, and Keunen)......Page 221 Netman (Schulze, Benko, and Farrell)......Page 222 Sunsniff (Author Unknown)......Page 223 How Do I Detect a Sniffer on My Network?......Page 224 What Can I Do to Foil a Sniffer?......Page 225 What Are Some Other Ways to Defeat Sniffer Attacks?......Page 226 Summary......Page 228 Techniques to Hide One's Identity......Page 230 finger......Page 231 Table 13.1. Finger clients for non-UNIX, non-NT users.......Page 233 The Plan File (.plan)......Page 235 MasterPlan......Page 236 A Few Words About Cookies......Page 239 Public Postings......Page 243 The WHOIS Service......Page 245 Resources......Page 253 Articles and Papers......Page 255 Destructive Devices......Page 256 KaBoom......Page 257 Unabomber......Page 258 The UNIX MailBomb......Page 259 General Information About E-Mail Bombs......Page 260 IRC: Flash Bombs and War Scripts......Page 262 ACME......Page 263 The 7th Sphere......Page 264 Syn_Flooder......Page 265 win95ping.c......Page 266 Viruses......Page 267 Sweep for Windows 95 and Windows NT......Page 276 The Simtel.Net MS-DOS Collection at the OAK Repository......Page 277 Resources......Page 278 The Concept of the Hole......Page 281 Holes That Allow Denial of Service......Page 282 sendmail......Page 284 Other Class B Holes......Page 285 Holes That Allow Remote Users Unauthorized Access (Class A)......Page 287 Other Holes......Page 290 Is This Hole Problem As Bad As They Say?......Page 291 Table 15.1. Operating system holes that allowed root access.......Page 292 CERT......Page 293 The National Institute of Standards and Technology Computer Security Resource Clearinghouse......Page 294 The ISS NT Security Mailing List......Page 295 The Bugtraq Archives......Page 296 Mailing Lists......Page 297 Summary......Page 298 Microsoft......Page 299 A Friendly Platform That's a Bit Too Friendly......Page 300 CMOS Password......Page 301 Playback 1.9......Page 303 Keytrap......Page 304 LCK2......Page 305 Sentry......Page 306 The Repository at Oakland.edu......Page 307 Windows and Windows for Workgroups......Page 308 Glide......Page 309 Windows 95......Page 310 WP WinSafe......Page 312 Fortres 101......Page 313 The Microsoft Word Macro Viruses......Page 314 The Microsoft FrontPage Web Server Hole......Page 315 The Microsoft Internet Security Framework......Page 316 Microsoft Windows NT......Page 317 DAC......Page 318 NT RegFind......Page 320 Microsoft's Systems Management Server......Page 321 Denial-of-Service Attacks......Page 322 The SMB Problem......Page 324 Resources......Page 325 The UNIX Platform Generally......Page 327 Table 17.1. Trusted, secure UNIX products.......Page 328 Console Security......Page 332 Where Is the Box Located?......Page 333 Securing Your Installation Media......Page 334 Out-of-the-Box Defaults......Page 335 Getting Down to Business: Password Security......Page 336 Installing Password Shadowing......Page 337 Installing a Proactive Password Checking Program......Page 338 The r Services......Page 339 Snooping Utilities: The finger Service......Page 341 Table 17.2. Alternative finger daemons.......Page 342 Telnet......Page 343 FTP......Page 345 About wu_ftpd......Page 346 About TFTPD......Page 348 Gopher......Page 349 Network File System......Page 350 HTTP......Page 351 Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol......Page 353 After Backup: Installing TCP_WRAPPERS, TCP_Dump, and Tripwire......Page 354 TCP_Dump......Page 355 Other Tools......Page 356 About X......Page 357 Publications......Page 359 Connecting the Machine to the Internet: Last Steps......Page 360 Publications......Page 361 The Next Step......Page 362 Summary......Page 363 Background......Page 364 Default Passwords......Page 367 Spoofing......Page 368 Sniffers and Novell......Page 369 Burglar......Page 370 IPXCntrl......Page 371 Novelbfh.exe......Page 372 Login Protocol of NetWare 3.12 Flawed......Page 373 WSetPass 1.55......Page 374 GETEQUIV.EXE......Page 375 Publications......Page 376 Usenet Newsgroups......Page 377 VAX/VMS......Page 378 VMS......Page 380 Table 19.1. Common VMS commands.......Page 381 Security in VMS......Page 382 The Mountd Hole......Page 383 Historical Problems: The Wank Worm Incident......Page 384 Audits and Monitoring......Page 385 Stealth......Page 386 Crypt......Page 387 Changing Times......Page 388 Summary......Page 389 Resources......Page 390 Macintosh......Page 391 Password Crackers and Related Utilities......Page 392 FMProPeeker 1.1......Page 393 MacKrack......Page 394 RemoveIt......Page 395 AOL4FREE2.6v4.sit......Page 396 The WebStar Controversy......Page 397 Super Save......Page 401 Sesame......Page 402 Books and Reports......Page 403 Sites with Tools and Munitions......Page 404 Zines and Electronic Online Magazines......Page 406 The Basics......Page 408 What Plan 9 Is Not......Page 409 Some Concepts......Page 410 SAM......Page 413 Plan 9's Window System......Page 414 Programming in Plan 9......Page 415 The Machine Targeted for Installation......Page 417 The Installation Process......Page 418 Partitioning the Disk......Page 419 Installing the Remaining Diskette Files......Page 420 Starting Plan 9......Page 421 Plan 9 on the WWW......Page 422 Articles and Such......Page 423 The General Idea......Page 424 About Access Control......Page 426 About Gaining Root......Page 427 Cracking Root......Page 428 Root Might Be a Thing of the Past......Page 429 The Cracker Who Is Root......Page 430 Beware of Root......Page 431 Summary......Page 432 An Introduction to Breaching a Server Internally......Page 433 Anatomy of a Local Crack......Page 436 Gathering Information......Page 437 Extremely Local Users: Hardware Considerations......Page 439 Remote Local Users......Page 442 The Process......Page 443 inftp.pl......Page 444 Summary......Page 445 Resources......Page 446 How Security Concepts Can Influence Your Choices......Page 448 About Remote Security Consults......Page 450 Security Through Obscurity......Page 451 Choosing a Consultant......Page 452 Criminal Record......Page 453 Cost......Page 454 The Heterogeneous Network......Page 455 The General Process......Page 456 Degrees of Security......Page 457 Local Saves......Page 458 Remote Saves via CGI......Page 460 The Overall Picture of Net Commerce......Page 461 Summary......Page 463 The First Steps......Page 464 About Finger Queries......Page 467 The Operating System......Page 468 Doing a Test Run......Page 471 Tools: About Holes and Other Important Features......Page 475 Developing an Attack Strategy......Page 476 After the Scan......Page 477 Summary......Page 478 When Can an Attack Occur?......Page 480 What Operating Systems Do Crackers Use?......Page 481 Microsoft......Page 482 What Is the Typical Cracker Like?......Page 483 What Is the Typical Target Like?......Page 484 Why Do They Want to Attack?......Page 485 About Attacks......Page 486 The Sams Crack Level Index......Page 489 Level One......Page 490 Levels Two and Three......Page 492 Responding to Level-Two Attacks......Page 495 Resources......Page 496 Intrusion Detection......Page 498 What Is a Firewall?......Page 500 What Are the Components of a Firewall?......Page 501 Types of Firewalls......Page 502 Packet Filtering Tools......Page 503 Audit and Logging Tools......Page 504 NOCOL/NetConsole v4.0......Page 505 Application-Proxy Firewalls/Application Gateways......Page 506 TIS FWTK......Page 507 Firewalls Generally......Page 508 Building a Firewall: What You Need to Know......Page 509 Identifying Topology and Protocol Needs......Page 510 Are Firewalls Foolproof?......Page 511 Commercial Firewalls......Page 512 Summary......Page 514 Resources......Page 515 What Is a Spoofing Attack?......Page 519 Who Can Be Spoofed?......Page 520 How Spoofing Attacks Work......Page 521 Trust Relationships and Spoofing Generally......Page 522 Step One: Putting Nexus 3 to Sleep......Page 523 Step Two: Discovering Nexus 2's Sequence Number......Page 524 How Common Are Spoofing Attacks?......Page 525 What Can Be Done to Prevent IP Spoofing Attacks?......Page 527 Other Strange and Offbeat Spoofing Attacks......Page 528 Summary......Page 530 Virtual Terminal......Page 531 Telnet Security History......Page 532 Changing the Environment......Page 535 Terminal Emulation......Page 536 Telnet as a Weapon......Page 540 Resources......Page 543 Language......Page 546 HTML......Page 547 Password Protection for Web Sites: htpasswd......Page 549 HTML Security Extensions......Page 552 Java and JavaScript......Page 556 Java......Page 557 What Was All the Fuss About?......Page 558 Java Books, Articles, Papers, and Other Resources......Page 563 Perl......Page 564 Perl and CGI......Page 565 The System Call......Page 567 Server-Side Includes......Page 569 Microsoft Internet Explorer......Page 571 ActiveX......Page 574 So, What Is the Problem with ActiveX?......Page 576 Summary......Page 578 Phreaks......Page 579 United States of America v. Robert Tappan Morris......Page 580 California......Page 583 Texas......Page 584 Table 31.1. Interesting United States computer crime provisions.......Page 585 The Law in Action......Page 586 China......Page 587 Russia and the CIS......Page 588 The EEC (European Economic Community)......Page 589 The United Kingdom......Page 590 Finland......Page 591 Free Speech......Page 592 Resources......Page 593 Sources for General Information......Page 595 Sites on the WWW......Page 596 Books, Reports, and Publications......Page 600 Windows NT......Page 602 General......Page 603 Java......Page 604 Databases and Security......Page 606 Articles......Page 608 Password Crackers......Page 610 Sniffers......Page 611 Scanners and Related Utilities......Page 612 Finger Clients......Page 613 Technical Reports and Publications......Page 614 Intrusion Detection......Page 622 Mailing Lists......Page 623 Underground Resources......Page 624 The Listings......Page 626 AS Stallion Ltd.......Page 627 Cambridge Technology Partners, Inc.......Page 628 Comet & Company......Page 629 Electronic Communications Consultants Inc.......Page 630 Eric Murray, Independent Consultant......Page 631 Gemini Computers Inc.......Page 632 Grand Designs, Ltd./ConfluX.net......Page 633 I.T. NetworX Ltd.......Page 634 InterNet Guide Service Inc.......Page 635 Interpact, Inc./Infowar.Com......Page 636 Jerboa, Inc.......Page 637 Lawrence J. Kilgallen......Page 638 Livermore Software Labs......Page 639 Metamor Technologies, Ltd.......Page 640 Milvets System Technology, Inc......Page 641 Myxa Corporation......Page 642 Network Evolutions, Incorporated......Page 643 NH&A......Page 644 Omnes......Page 645 R.C. Consulting, Inc.......Page 646 Realogic, Inc.......Page 647 SecTek, Inc.......Page 648 SecureNet Engineering, Inc.......Page 649 Sequent Computer Systems BV......Page 650 Strategic Data Command Inc.......Page 651 Technologic, Inc.......Page 652 Visionary Corporate Computing Concepts......Page 653 Zot Consulting......Page 654 A Hidden Message About the Internet......Page 656 File Lock Series......Page 657 EtherBoy (Of the NetMan Suite)......Page 658 WebBoy......Page 659 Point 'n Crypt World 1.5......Page 660 NetScanTools 32 Bit v2.42......Page 661 PrivaSuite......Page 662 WebSENSE......Page 663 Cetus StormWindows......Page 664 Windows Enforcer......Page 665 SATAN (Security Administrator's Tool for Analyzing Networks)......Page 666 SAFEsuite......Page 667 SecureConsole......Page 668 RadLast......Page 669 About the Software......Page 670