Local Area Security Linux LiveCD 94
An anonymous reader writes "LocalAreaSecurity.com has released a new version of their live-CD Linux distribution for information security professionals. It contains over 200 security tools including all the usual suspects (Nmap, Nessus, etc.) as well as many other great tools less well known. The ISO images are meant to be burned on 185MB and 210MB miniCDs which they update around twice a month. L.A.S. also publishes many papers on how to use the tools as well as research docs on *nix security. Their latest papers include: Securing Mambo Open Source CMS, Doing More With Less: Nessus, and L.A.S. Security Tool Review and Howto: kismet."
Re:Obviously... (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder how this will fare against Knoppix STD? Knoppix, as the world knows, is an awesome LiveCD distro of Linux that comes with an assortment of tools. This... just seems to come with a lot more. I guess it just matters about that user-friendliest though, as an Elite Linux user could boot up with Slackware CD 2, the LiveCD and do just as much or more. But yet, Slackware is as user friendly as a rabid wolf.
Re:Nmap (Score:3, Insightful)
Would you throw away your hammer because it can be used to illegally break into places?
"security" (Score:2, Insightful)
But I just read.. (Score:2, Insightful)
The law and desireability (Score:5, Insightful)
Uh, huh.
When Phil Zimmerman released PGP, he underwent a three-year investigation by the FBI.
I not care in the least what either Phil or Fyodor did (especially when Fyodor was tracking down a harasser). They produce excellent software, which is their only interaction with me.
There is a lot of content on Slashdot that could be considered libel. If every person guilty of libel on Slashdot was ignored, we'd have an awfully quiet forum.
Re:"security" (Score:5, Insightful)
And thus, I want a copy. As others have joked, by the very definition of a "skript kiddie" (unskilled cracker dependent on the tools of others), something like this is way out of their league. But I assume you might have meant, "People who do illegal things to computers who could use such a convenient CD where all the free tools online are in one place."
Well, they are going to do use it, whether it's wrong or not, and if LAS doesn't do it, someone else will (and has). And I want the same tools to test my firewalls and stuff to make SURE that it's hard to break into my network. Nothing will ever be hack-proof, but if you can make it hard for illegal entry, the crook will look elsewhere for something easier. And tools like these give me the same tools the crooks have, and the advantage I have is that I don't need time to "sniff" for anything to deduce which items to crack, since I already know what machines are senistive. I can just use an Ethereal capture pointed at an IP or MAC and see what it's sending out. Try and hack my own wireless connection with Kismet. And so on.
It's all in intent, and how you use it. I use tools like thse to trace stray DHCP servers, look for illegal Kazaa use, or find out who's trying to hack my firewall.
A prybar is not illegal. Forcing open a loose door on property you don't own or beating someone to death with it is illegal. But you don't see people banning prybars at Home Depot.
Re:Mirrors for Download (Score:4, Insightful)
Wake up people, releasing ISO's should be done through BitTorrent. Then, instead of
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Noteable Omissions (Score:3, Insightful)
Tethereal [ethereal.com] The X version "ethereal" is there, but I've always prefered the text based ethereal
Etherape [sourceforge.net] A cool visual traffic monitor.
Other than that, LAS Linux is pretty cool!