Re: Pen Test mistake

From: Anders Thulin (Anders.Thulin_at_kiconsulting.se)
Date: 08/22/03

  • Next message: LATRECHE Abdelbaset: "Re: Using Firewall enumeration tools"
    Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 08:35:25 +0200
    To: pen-test@securityfocus.com
    
    

    Jeff Johnson wrote:

    > Anyone else have any better advice?

       So far I think you are right. But what then? How can you
    (or any other pen-tester in this situation) avoid getting
    into this kind of mess again?

       Having a large toolkit usually means having to enter the
    same data over and over -- it's not a question *if* an error
    will be made, but *when*.

       And having a small toolkit (say, just Nessus or Retina or
    whatever) means the target will get pretty badly hit before
    anyone on the pen-testing side really notices ... I'm not
    sure I'd like to imagine what could happen with fairly
    autonomous tools (CORE Impact, perhaps -- haven't tried it,
    so I may be mistaken about this).

       Doing a nmap -sL scan (i.e. reverse DNS only) early may help.
    "What is apex.com doing on an acme.com network? Better check
    this before we continue..."

       I've sometimes thought that sitting behind (or rather in
    front of) a back-to-front firewall (that is, one that you set
    up to prevent you from going anywhere but to the target network)
    would help. It would stop single mistakes (configuring the firewall
    the right way, but targeting the wrong network, and vice versa),
    though it won't help preventing double mistakes, or situations
    where the customer has mistyped or made a bad guess about where
    his subnets *really* end. (The idea is, of course, to avoid hitting
    the wrong target, not just to avoid the responsibility for doing so.)

       A similar situation can occur with RFC1918 nets. On the remote
    system you've just taken you see a number of sessions from, say,
    172.16.3.1-5, and you start scanning those hosts from your home
    base without quite registering that they are private. And find
    that you're scanning entirely different systems, and systems you're
    not supposed to touch. May happen in large organizations who make
    systematical use of 1918-nets...

       Pen-test your own pen-testing: how can your working process
    get disrupted (accidentally or deliberately), and what can you
    do to lessen the risks. As has been mentioned, insurance
    is sometimes a possibility.

    -- 
    Anders Thulin   anders.thulin@kiconsulting.se   040-661 50 63	
    Ki Consulting AB, Box 85, SE-201 20 Malmö, Sweden
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  • Next message: LATRECHE Abdelbaset: "Re: Using Firewall enumeration tools"

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