Microsoft Releases Attack Surface Analyzer Tool 40
wiredmikey writes "Microsoft has released the public version of Attack Surface Analyzer, a tool designed to help software developers and independent software vendors assess the attack surface of an application or software platform. The tool was pushed out of beta with Version 1.0 released on Thursday. Since ASA doesn't require the original source code, managers and executives can also use the tool to determine how a new application or software being considered would affect the organization's overall security before deploying it. The tool takes snapshots of the system before and after an application was installed, and compares them to identify changes made when new applications were installed. A stand-alone wizard guides users through the scanning and analysis process and a command-line version is available for use with automated tools. Attack Surface Analyzer 1.0 can be downloaded from Microsoft here."
First impression (Score:4, Insightful)
So I haven't yet tested it, but it sounds like a fancy interface to netstat, diff, and a wee bit of HijackThis thrown in for good measure. From the download site:
Some of the checks performed by the tool include analysis of changed or newly added files, registry keys, services, Microsoft ActiveX controls, listening ports and other parameters that affect a computer's attack surface.
The actual assessment of an attack surface is far more complex than any single system, and there's a heavy user-education component that no automated tool can test. While I'm sure this will have some use for admins who don't run firewalls or are under typically-asinine requirements to describe in detail the impact of a package, it looks more useful for ensuring programs actually uninstall completely.