Take Time To Understand Free Tools Before You Use Them

Free tools and technologies can deliver real value, Yet they also can present risks!

URL shortening services, for example, are fantastic, especially for those of us who love to share our knowledge and findings inside social networks. Yet they can very easily, and often do, hide a nefarious attack.

Another Free Tool to Use with Caution

Be sure to check the security of shortened URLs before clicking them. One service you may consider is urlxray.com.

Top 5 Tools Every Security Professional Must Learn

5 basic tools for security professionals

As the role of the information security professional continues to evolve within organizations towards that of an executive level position, we see a growing emphasis on traditional business administration skills over the more technical skills that previously defined the top security leadership job.

Nonetheless, Information Security Professionals need to keep abreast of the latest down-in-the-weeds tools and technologies that can benefit their organization’s security posture, as well as those tools that are widely available which could be misused by malicious actors to identify and exploit network security weaknesses.

ToolsWatch is a free interactive service designed to help auditors, penetration testers, and other security professionals keep their ethical hacking toolbox up to date with the latest and greatest resources.

ARMITAGE

Metasploit has become over the years the best framework to conduct penetration testing on network systems and IT infrastructure. Nevertheless, Armitage an open source effort to bring user-friendly interface to Metasploit.

Armitage demonstrations are very convincing and allow you to analyze weak and vulnerable machines in a network in just a few clicks. This tool has brilliantly hidden the complexity of Metasploit (for a non-technical audience) in favor of usability, and is a great way to demonstrate the security in depth of an IT architecture.

HASHCAT

There is constantly a battle between security folks and users when it comes to passwords. Although it is simple to deploy a Password Policy in a company, it’s also very difficult to justify it.

Because in a perfect world from users perspective, the best password would be the name of the family cat with no expiration date, and this fact applies  to any system that requires authentication.

HashCat has shown that the selection of a strong  password must be done carefully, and this tool allows us to demonstrate the ease with which a password can be recovered.

WIFITE

You know what you have connected to when using your hardwired network, but have you ever wondered if the air is playing tricks on you? To test your WiFi security, Wifite has the simplest way.

Wifite allows the discovery of all devices that have an active wireless capability enabled by default (like some printers for example). Wifite is a very simple and convincing way to validate the security of wireless networks.

WIRESHARK

Known for many years as Ethereal, WireShark is probably the best tool when it comes to sniffing for and collecting data over a network.

On the one hand, WireShark has boosted its capabilities with the support of several types of networks (Ethernet, 802.11, etc.) and also in the simplicity of its use through a very friendly user interface.

WireShark allows to demonstrate that outdated protocols such as Telnet / FTP should be banned from a corporate network, and that sensitive information should be encrypted to avoid being captured by a malicious user

SOCIAL ENGINEERING TOOLKIT (SET)

SET is a framework that helps the in creation of sophisticated technical attacks which operated using the credulity of the human. It can be used in the process of preparing a phishing attack mimicking a known website or trapping PDF files with the appropriate payload. The simplicity of use via an intuitive menu makes it an even more attractive tool.

It is the dream of every CISO to drive security awareness campaigns without ruining the security budget. With SET, the team in charge of security audits can design attacks scenarios and distribute them internally to the targeted users.

Sandcat - Penetration Testing Oriented Browser for Pen-Testers

Sandcat Browser brings unique features that are useful for pen-testers and web developers

Sandcat is targeted at penetration testers - people who test websites for security holes - but could also be useful for developers, or anyone else who would like a little more low-level control over their browsing .. This is a capable security testing and developer-oriented browser.

Sandcat Browser is a freeware portable pen-test oriented multi-tabbed web-browser with extensions support developed by the Syhunt team. It is built on top of Chromium, the same engine that powers the Google Chrome browser and uses the LUA language to provide extensions and scripting support.

It has many useful security and developer oriented tools updated to version 4.0 with the fastest scripting language packed with features for pen-testers such as: 

• Live HTTP Headers — built-in live headers with a dedicated cache per tab and support for preview extensions
• Sandcat Console — an extensible command line console; Allows you to easily run custom commands and scripts in a loaded page
• Resources tab — allows you to view the page resources, such as JavaScript files and other web files.
• Page Menu extensions — allows you to view details about a page and more.
• Pen-Tester Tools — Sandcat comes with a multitude of pen-test oriented extensions. This includes a Fuzzer, a Script Runner, HTTP & XHR Editors, Request Loader, Request Replay capabilities, Tor support and more.

Features inherited from Chromium include:

• Multi-Process Architecture — each tab is its own process
• Developer Tools — in addition to the Chromium Developer Tools, Sandcat comes with a Source Code Editor and its own JavaScript and Lua consoles.

How to crack/reset your Windows account?

Have you lost or forgotten your Windows password?

It's one of the security best practice to enable password on your Windows user account to ensure you have adequate protection from malicious access to your personal files. 

It is a common practice to forget your computer password if you're not using it for a while or perhaps just returned from holidays. Unfortunately, currently Windows operating systems doesn't have an option to reset your password like we commonly see in web applications such as Facebook, Hotmail etc.

In the majority of the cases, I have seen users have to format and reinstall the Windows to access their computer again but unfortunately they have to sacrifice  loss of their personal data if they haven't backed-up.

So what to do? How to crack/reset the password of the Windows operating system?

I recently come across this nice password resetter tool "Password Resetter", which cracks windows password in minutes without affecting your personal data.

As stated on their website that it can recover 99,9% of passwords from nearly any Windows installation in a matter of seconds! You do not need to remember old passwords in order to crack your Windows password.

Password Resetter recovers the lost Windows administrator or user password from any Windows Operation System. It supports Windows Vista, XP, NT, 2000 and the newest Windows 7.

How to use Password Resetter?

1) Download a copy of Password Resetter.

2) Burn the image on CD/DVD. The package comes with the detailed tutorial.

3) Once the bootable CD/DVD is ready, boot the system with this CD/DVD. Select the user account and then click on reset button.

Another cool feature?

It supports USB, which means you can crack/reset your Windows password with USB drives in case you do not have CD/DVD.  

This is not a freeware, you will need to purchase this software for around $35 for personal use.

Metasploit: The Penetration Tester’s Guide

Want a great book on Backtrack 5 and the Metasploit Framework?


Look no further than “Metasploit: The Penetration Tester’s Guide” written by the all star cast of David Kennedy (creator of the Social Engineering Toolkit), Jim O’Gorman (instructor at Offensive-Security), Devon Kearns (a BackTrack Linux developer), and Mati Aharoni (created BackTrack and founder of Offensive-Security). 


This is the most complete and comprehensive instruction book for Metasploit that I have seen so far. The authors walk you step by step, command by command through using the Metasploit Framework as a penetration tester. You move quickly from the basics of Penetration testing through using the platform to perform the different phases of intelligence gathering and exploitation. 


Excellent book for anyone interested in a hands on approach to computer security, the Metaslpoit pro who wants a great reference book and those new to Metasploit that want a step by step instruction manual.


Metasploit: The Penetration Tester’s Guide – Check it out!

Password-Strength Checker

Check your password—is it strong?


Learn how to use the Password Strength Calculator to test the strength of your password security. Online password strength checker for secure passwords from Microsoft.


What is a strong password?


The strength of a password depends on the different types of characters that you use, the overall length of the password, and whether the password can be found in a dictionary. It should be 8 or more characters long.


For tips about how to create passwords that are easy for you to remember but difficult for others to guess, read Create strong passwords.


Refer here.

Free Framework for Vulnerability Reporting

Breach Info Sharing Tool Enhanced


The Industry Consortium for Advancement of Security on the Internet has introduced an enhanced version of its free security vulnerability reporting framework designed to ease the sharing of breach information.


The framework enables stakeholders across different organizations to share vulnerability information in an open and common machine-readable format. ICASI, a non-profit association of eight major information technology companies, says Version 1.1 of the Common Vulnerability Reporting Framework offers users a more comprehensive and flexible format, while reducing duplication and the possibility of errors.


"CVRF replaces the many nonstandard reporting formats previously in use, thus speeding up information exchange and processing," the association says. Russell Smoak, ICASI's president, in an earlier interview with Information Security Media Group, explained that the framework allows for consistency among vendors, researchers and customers in exchanging vulnerability information. "It speeds the response in the event of a breach," he said.


For example, by using the framework, an organization that's a customer of three companies that have all been affected by a data breach could receive consistent reports and then more promptly take appropriate action, Smoak explained. The framework is available for free at the consortium's website, which also includes information about a May 30 webcast on the framework.

“Malware Classifier” Tool

Python tool for quick malware triage


Malware Classifier uses machine learning algorithms to classify Win32 binaries – EXEs and DLLs – into three classes: 0 for “clean,” 1 for “malicious,” or “UNKNOWN.” The tool extracts seven key features from a binary, feeds them to one or all of the four classifiers, and presents its classification results.


The tool was developed using models resultant from running the J48, J48 Graft, PART, and Ridor machine-learning algorithms on a data set of approximately 100,000 malicious programs and 16,000 clean programs.


Malware Classifier is available at Open @ Adobe.

Applying An Ancient Chinese Lesson: Know Your Enemies

7 Levels of Hackers

Terms used in information technology and IT security often are vague. Take, for instance, cloud computing. Some might think of the public cloud; others, the private, hybrid or community cloud. Or, the term could mean software as a service, platform as a service and so on.

The same can be said of the word hacker. Not all hackers are the same, and that presents problems in defending against them. The catch-all media description of a hacker is one who accesses a computer system by circumventing its security system.

But contrary to popular belief, not all are motivated by the prospect of obtaining credit-card details or personal data that they can sell for cash. Not all that fall into the hacker category are cybercriminals. Not all are human.

They are seven levels of hackers, the higher the number, the greater the danger they pose:

1. Script Kiddies: Essentially bored teens with some programming skills who hack for fun and recognition. They're thrill seekers.
   
   
2. The Hacking Group: A loose collection of script kiddies who wield more power as a collective than as individuals, and can cause serious disruption to business. Think LulzSec, known for attacks last year on Sony, CIA and the U.S. Senate, among others.
   
   
3. Hacktivists: Collectives that often act with a political or social motivation. Anonymous is the best known hacktivist group that has been credited - or blamed - with attacks against child-porn sites, Koch Industries, Bank of America, NATO and various government websites.
   
   
4. Black Hat Professionals: Using their expert coding skills and determination, these hackers generally neither destroy nor seek publicity but figure out new ways to infiltrate impenetrable targets, developing avenues of attacks that could prove costly for governments and businesses.
   
   
5. Organized Criminal Gangs: Led by professional criminals, these serious hackers function within a sophisticated structure, guided by strict rules to ensure their crimes go undetected by law enforcement.
   
   
6. Nation States: With massive computing power at their disposal, they target critical infrastructure, military, utilities or financial sectors.
   
   
7. The Automated Tool: Fundamentally, it's a piece of software that acts like a worm virus and tries to affect as much as possible to give itself the largest possible framework. A well-crafted tool could be utilized by any one of the other six criminal types.

Intrusion Detection System in Plain English?

Intrusion detection aids in reacting to network infrastructure incursions

IT decentralization clearly has increased the need for effective network security. In response, entities typically deploy several layers of information security technologies. Furthermore, due to technological and operational diversity, it is critical to have standard processes to control access that will permit economies of scale.

Network monitoring of packets to identify malformed packets and known attacks should be an entity’s Threat Management control objective. Unauthorized access incidents are often preceded by reconnaissance activity to map hosts and services and to identify vulnerabilities.

Precursor exploits may include port scans, host scans, vulnerability scans, pings, trace-routes, DNS zone transfers, Operating System fingerprinting, and banner grabbing. Such unethical, if not unlawful, activities are discovered primarily through Intrusion Detection System (IDS) or Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) software and secondarily through log analysis.

Intrusion detection aids in reacting to network infrastructure incursions. Derivatively, the main value of intrusion detection is early incident or event awareness and subsequent, timely intervention resulting in a loss experience that is less than what might otherwise ensue from a security breach.

After all of the access control rules are implemented and the software is updated and patched, an IDS should provide the ability to determine if and when security controls have been bypassed. Consequently, the primary IDS purpose is to provide the ability to view IT activity in real time and to identify unauthorized IT activity.

Google Chrome to offer easy-way to construct stronger passwords

Google Password Generator in the Works

Google is in the process of developing a tool to help users generate strong passwords for the various and sundry Web sites for which they need to register and authenticate. The password-generator is meant to serve as an interim solution for users while Google and other companies continue to work on widespread deployment of the OpenID standard.

The tool that Google engineers are working on is a fairly simple one. For people who are using the Chrome browser, whenever a site presents them with a field that requires a password, Chrome will display a small key icon, letting the users know that they could allow Chrome to generate a password for them.

"Detecting when we are on a page that is meant for account sign up will be most of the technical challenge. This will likely be accomplished via heuristics (i.e. there is an account name field and two password fields). If we determine that this is a signup page, then we will add a small UI element to the password field. If the user clicks on this element, we will pop up a small dialogue box next to field asking the user if they would like Chrome to manage this password for them," the project page on Chromium Projects says.

"If they accept the prompt then we pop up a small box which is prepopulated with what we think is an acceptable random password. The reason we don't just choose a password for them is that many sites have requirements (e.g. must have one digit, must be alphanumeric, must be between 6 and 20 characters) some of which may be contradictory between sites.

So we will choose a default generator that will work on most sites, but users may need to change our password if it doesn't work. We can skip this for sites that have 'pattern' set on the password field. Long term we can hopefully also gather some aggregate information from UMA users about the form of passwords they generated so that this whole process can be skipped for the vast majority of sites."

Password management has become a major pitfall for many users in recent years as the number of sites that require authentication has exploded. As users have been required to register with more and more sites and services, including mobile apps and games, many of them have naturally tended to re-use passwords and use weak or easily guessable ones.

This has been a boon for data thieves who, after stealing a database of usernames and passwords from one retailer or Web site, find that they often can compromise any number of other accounts belonging to those victims simply by re-using the passwords.

A variety of services and products have emerged to help address the problem of password generation and management, including applications that will generate random passwords or store existing passwords in an encrypted form. But the problem has persisted.

Google's password generator, which is in the development stage, won't be able to protect users in every scenario. It's meant for use in situations where users are signing up for a new service or need to set a new password. In situations where a user is simply signing in to an existing account, it won't be of use. It also may not protect against a majority of phishing sites.

"Any website that has autocomplete turned off will not be able to be protected. Going by current phishing attacks, this means that 40-70% of phishing pages can't be protected against. Once this feature is rolled out we probably want to see if we can get around this problem. Maybe we can get users to re-authenticate to the browser before logging into such sites," the Google documentation says.

How-to encrypt and password protect your personal folders & files in Windows and Mac

TrueCrypt - Free Open-Source Disk Encryption Software

You can’t easily password protect folders or files in Windows / MAC yet, but you can remove the permissions for users or use TrueCrypt to create mountable encrypted containers that can only be accessed with the correct password.

TrueCrypt is a software system for establishing and maintaining an on-the-fly-encrypted volume (data storage device). On-the-fly encryption means that data is automatically encrypted right before it is saved and decrypted right after it is loaded, without any user intervention.

No data stored on an encrypted volume can be read (decrypted) without using the correct password/keyfile(s) or correct encryption keys. Entire file system is encrypted (e.g., file names, folder names, contents of every file, free space, meta data, etc).

Encryption does not mean it has to be slow or difficult. In fact, TrueCrypt makes it really fast and you can access all files as if they were unencrypted. Here is how you can do it:

1. Download TrueCrypt from http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads (latest stable 7.1 09/26/11)
   
   
2. When you install TrueCrypt select Extract files, this will extract the program without actually installing it.
   
   
3. Now start the TrueCrypt.exe
   
   
4. Click on Create New Volume and this screen will pop up:
   
   
   
   
   
5. Select Standard for now
   
   
6. Find a place for your encrypted container. Think of it as a real file that is password-protected. Store it for example here: C:\Users\yourusername\Desktop
   

   

   Make sure you have enough disk space.

7. Select an algorithm. Don’t know what to choose? Use the default!
   
   
8. Enter a size for the encrypted container.
   
   
9. Set a password for your encrypted container. Don’t make your password too short or it will be easy to crack
   
   
10. Move your mouse for some time to get a good encryption and click on Format
    
    
    
11. Back on the TrueCrypt main screen, enter the path to your encrypted container (or click on Select file and browse to it)
    
    
12. Finally click on Mount, you can now access your encrypted password-protected container like any other hard drive via the explorer! Awesome? It is!

There are various other methods to password protect and encrypt folders. However, TrueCrypt is the best free solution and using the to effectively protect your private folders.

If you need more protection, simply create an encrypted container and store your files on a flash drive. Flash drives with 8GB or more are cheap and can be used to store all your private files. You could also use an external USB hard drive for storing the password-protected encrypted folders.

DDoS Testing Methodology

A methodology to measure the resiliency of network infrastructure against DDoS and botnet attacks

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are rampant, successfully targeting Fortune 100 businesses, not to mention government, news media, communication and financial networks throughout the world. It has become more important to assess network equipment and application servers using these same attacks. Only through realistic attack simulation can organizations visualize their own weaknesses and vulnerabilities within the IT infrastructure and how resilient these elements are when under attack.

DDoS Testing Methodology

BreakingPoint has created a definitive DDoS testing methodology that creates a variety of attacks to help users find their network weaknesses before others do. Such attacks include the following:

• DDoS designed to consume all available bandwidth, all disk space or all available CPU cycles
  
  
• DDoS designed to disrupt important information flow such as routing tables by injecting false routes, thus causing packets to be misrouted
  
  
• DDoS designed to break the physical layer of the network and obstruct the communication between the end-point and the user
  
  
• Botnets designed to send large quantities of unsolicited e-mail to trigger Delivery Server Notifications to spoofed originating email addresses

To download the methodology please refer here (registration may be required)

CSET™ Version 4.0.1 Available for Download

The Cyber Security Evaluation Tool (CSETTM) is a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) product that assists organizations in protecting their key national cyber assets.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Control Systems Security Program (CSSP) has released an interim Version 4.0.1 of the Cyber Security Evaluation Tool (CSET™). This new version of the tool can be downloaded from the CSSP website:

http://us-cert.gov/control_systems/satool.html.

This interim Version 4.0.1 release addresses some minor issues identified in report formatting and corrects a problem with Zone Security Assurance Level (SAL) calculations.

Additionally, this release incorporates a new sub-report to isolate and show user comments in a single location, includes modifications to clarify how firewall analysis is performed, and improves upon the gap analysis for pass/fail standards.

Purpose of CSET

CSET is a desktop software tool that guides users through a step-by-step process to assess their control system and information technology network security practices against recognized industry standards.

The output from CSET is a prioritized list of recommendations for improving the cybersecurity posture of the organization's enterprise and industrial control cyber systems. The tool derives the recommendations from a database of cybersecurity standards, guidelines, and practices. Each recommendation is linked to a set of actions that can be applied to enhance cybersecurity controls.

CSET has been designed for easy installation and use on a stand-alone laptop or workstation. It incorporates a variety of available standards from organizations such as National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and others.

When the tool user selects one or more of the standards, CSET will open a set of questions to be answered. The answers to these questions will be compared against a selected security assurance level, and a detailed report will be generated to show areas for potential improvement. CSET provides an excellent means to perform a self-assessment of the security posture of your control system environment.

Key Benefits of CSET

• CSET contributes to an organization's risk management and decision-making process
• Raises awareness and facilitates discussion on cybersecurity within the organization
• Highlights vulnerabilities in the organization's systems and provides recommendations on ways to address the vulnerability
• Identifies areas of strength and best practices being followed in the organization
• Provides a method to systematically compare and monitor improvement in the cyber systems
• Provides a common industry-wide tool for assessing cyber systems

Now you can DDOS SSL?

SSL DDOS tool released in to the wild with download

THC-SSL-DOS is a tool to verify the performance of SSL.Establishing a secure SSL connection requires 15x more processing power on the server than on the client. THC-SSL-DOS exploits this asymmetric property by overloading the server and knocking it off the Internet. This problem affects all SSL implementations today.

The vendors are aware of this problem since 2003 and the topic has been widely discussed. This attack further exploits the SSL secure Renegotiation feature Comparing flood DDoS vs. SSL-Exhaustion attack. A traditional flood DDoS attack cannot be mounted from a single DSL connection.

This is because:

• The bandwidth of a server is far superior to the bandwidth of a DSL connection
• A DSL connection is not an equal opponent to challenge the bandwidth of a server
• This is turned upside down for THC-SSL-DOS
• The processing capacity for SSL handshakes is far superior at the client side
• A laptop on a DSL connection can challenge a server on a 30Gbit link

Traditional DDoS attacks based on flooding are sub optimal. Servers are prepared to handle large amount of traffic and clients are constantly sending requests to the server even when not under attack. The SSL-handshake is only done at the beginning of a secure session and only if security is required. Servers are not prepared to handle large amount of SSL Handshakes. The worst attack scenario is an SSL-Exhaustion attack mounted from thousands of clients (SSL-DDoS).

Tips & Tricks for whitehats

1. The average server can do 300 handshakes per second. This would require 10-25% of your laptops CPU.
2. Use multiple hosts (SSL-DOS) if an SSL Accelerator is used.
3. Be smart in target acquisition: The HTTPS Port (443) is not always the best choice. Other SSL enabled ports are more unlikely to use an SSL Accelerator (like the POP3S, SMTPS, ... or the secure database port).

Counter measurements: No real solutions exists. The following steps can mitigate (but not solve) the problem:

1. Disable SSL-Renegotiation
2. Invest into SSL Accelerator Either of these countermeasures can be circumventing by modifying THC-SSL-DOS. A better solution is desireable. Somebody should fix this.

Download SSL DDOS Tool:

Windows binary: thc-ssl-dos-1.4-win-bin.zip
Unix Source : thc-ssl-dos-1.4.tar.gz
Source:http://www.thc.org/thc-ssl-dos/

New free version of Metasploit tool released

New version of free Metasploit tool aimed at newbie penetration testers

Two years after Rapid7 acquired the Metasploit Project, the company has rolled out a free and more user-friendly version of the open-source tool that is aimed at less technical users.

The new Metasploit Community Edition is a combination of the popular open-source Metasploit Framework and a basic version of the user interface of Rapid7's Metasploit Pro commercial product.

HD Moore, Rapid7's CSO and chief architect for Metasploit, says the free pen-testing tool features a new user interface and automation of tasks to make penetration testing more approachable for organizations and users not necessarily versed in penetration testing. There's a growing number of organizations that want to get started with pen testing, either for compliance reasons or just to test it out, he says.

"There's a huge number who want to dip their toe into security and don't want a complex learning curve. They just want to test it, and some are scared to test it," says Moore, who is also the creator of Metasploit. "[Now] they can get familiar with Metasploit ... and make sure they can prioritize vulnerabilities" and other security issues, he says.

It was two years ago today that Rapid7 announced it had purchased Moore's open-source Metasploit pen-testing tool project, and that Moore had joined the company and was remaining in charge of the project.

Metasploit Community is available for download here.

US-CERT - Control Systems Security Program

Cyber Security Evaluation Tool

Overview

Critical infrastructures are dependent on information technology systems and computer networks for essential operations. Particular emphasis is placed on the reliability and resiliency of the systems that comprise and interconnect these infrastructures. NCSD collaborates with partners from across public, private, and international communities to advance this goal by developing and implementing coordinated security measures to protect against cyber threats.

The Cyber Security Evaluation Tool (CSET) is a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) product that assists organizations in protecting their key national cyber assets. It was developed under the direction of the DHS National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) by cybersecurity experts and with assistance from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

This tool provides users with a systematic and repeatable approach for assessing the security posture of their cyber systems and networks. It includes both high-level and detailed questions related to all industrial control and IT systems.

Download CSET Assessment Fact Sheet

Purpose

CSET is a desktop software tool that guides users through a step-by-step process to assess their control system and information technology network security practices against recognized industry standards. The output from CSET is a prioritized list of recommendations for improving the cybersecurity posture of the organization's enterprise and industrial control cyber systems. The tool derives the recommendations from a database of cybersecurity standards, guidelines, and practices. Each recommendation is linked to a set of actions that can be applied to enhance cybersecurity controls.

CSET has been designed for easy installation and use on a stand-alone laptop or workstation. It incorporates a variety of available standards from organizations such as National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), and others.

When the tool user selects one or more of the standards, CSET will open a set of questions to be answered. The answers to these questions will be compared against a selected security assurance level, and a detailed report will be generated to show areas for potential improvement. CSET provides an excellent means to perform a self-assessment of the security posture of your control system environment.

Key Benefits

• CSET contributes to an organization's risk management and decision-making process
• Raises awareness and facilitates discussion on cybersecurity within the organization
• Highlights vulnerabilities in the organization's systems and provides recommendations on ways to address the vulnerability
• Identifies areas of strength and best practices being followed in the organization
• Provides a method to systematically compare and monitor improvement in the cyber systems
• Provides a common industry-wide tool for assessing cyber systems

How to Obtain it

CSET is available for download at the following link: Download CSET here

Alternatively, the Control Systems Security Program also offers onsite training and guidance to asset owners in using CSET during onsite assessments. These assessments are conducted at no cost to the asset owners. To assist an organization in planning and organizing for an assessment using the CSET, the following actions and items are recommended:

• Identify the assessment team members and schedule a date.
• Become familiar with information about the organization’s system and network by reviewing polices and procedures, network topology diagrams, inventory lists of critical assets and components, risk assessments, IT and ICS network policies/practices, and organizational roles and responsibilities.
• Select a meeting location to accommodate the assessment team during the question and answer portion of the assessment.
• Work with CSSP for onsite or subject matter support.

To request onsite assistance, please send mail to cset@dhs.gov.

10 Free Security Tools That Actually Work

Security isn't free, right?

Well, in some cases it is. You can get everything from anti-virus to a firewall for less than a penny. In a pinch, it's a nice option to have.

Much like we did with free cloud storage services, here are the 10 free security tools that you can download now that actually work and will help keep you, your data and your machine free from attack.

Avast
Avast Software is among the leading free anti-virus and anti-spyware tools out there. With more than 173 million registrations and counting, Avast promises dependable and fast anti-virus and anti-spyware, strong enough for normal Web use. Avast also boasts a small footprint and claims that it can outperform some competitors' paid anti-virus suites.

Malwarebytes
Malwarebytes is the go-to free security tool. We even know of a few IT departments that recommend it (though they probably won't admit that publicly). The free anti-malware tool is quick and rarely throws out false positives. It scans all files and drives and once infected files are identified enables users to remove them. There's a paid version with added protection, but if a quick scan and malware removal is all you're after and you're short on cash, it's a nice tool to have.

AVG
AVG Free can keep most Web users secure, provided they stick to surfing, searching and social networking. AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012 was just released to keep PCs safe and sound.

Comodo
Comodo offers prevention-based PC security via its free firewall offering, which the company says features Auto Sandbox Technology, defends PCs from Internet attacks and prevents malware from being installed.

BitDefender
BitDefender's Free Edition of anti-virus software acts as an on-demand virus scanner for system recovery and forensics. The free version uses the same ICSA Labs-certified scanning engines used by other BitDefender products to deliver basic protection for no cost. With the free edition of BitDefender, users get virus scanning and removal, scheduled scanning, immediate scanning, quarantine and reports.

ClamWin
ClamWin is a free, open-source anti-virus play for Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, XP, Me, 2000 and Windows Server 2003 and 2008. In use by more than 600,000 users globally, ClamWin offers users high detection rates for viruses and spyware, a scanning scheduler, automatic downloads of an updated virus database, a standalone scanner with right-click menu integration into Explorer and a Microsoft Outlook add-in to remove virus-infected attachments automatically.

ESET
ESET offers a free Online Scanner offering that detects and removes PC threats. The online scan uses only a browser and uses ESET's ThreatSense engine to sniff out and snuff threats. According to ESET, it offers one-click installation and activation and is always up to date with the latest threat signatures and algorithms from ESET's Threat Labs. It can detect known and unknown forms of malware, including viruses, works, Trojans, phishing and spyware. And all infected files are moved to a quarantine where they can be restored or removed permanently.

Rising
Rising offers a host of free security utilities including Rising Free Antivirus, Rising Free Firewall, Rising PC Doctor, Rising Free Online Scanner and Rising Mobile Security. The Antivirus Free Edition protects against viruses, Trojans, worms, rootkits and other types of malicious programs and malware and uses what Rising calls "Active Defense" technology and its patented "Unknown Virus Scan and Clean" and "Smartupdate" technologies.

PC Tools
PC Tools AntiVirus Free protects against basic cyberthreats with anti-virus and anti-spyware protection. The PC Tools free offering leverages Smart Updates and File Guard to protect a C and provide real-time protection, while E-mail Guard protects from malware that could e sent over e-mail. Made by the same folks that created Spyware Doctor, PC Tools AntiVirus Free gives users IntelliGuard real-time virus scan and removal to thwart viruses, worms, Trojans and more.

Ad-Aware
Ad-Aware Free Internet Security kicks free malware protection up a notch while promising not to slow things down. With real-time protection, Genocode detection technology, rootkit protection, automatic updates and more, Ad-Aware offers a full featured security suite for free. The offering vows to keep users safe from password stealers, keyloggers and online fraudsters while also leveraging behavior-based detection to find suspicious files and threats before they become a problem.

Free tool for penetration security testing

Automated Pen-Testing Tool

INSECT Pro is a new free tool for Penetration Testing and the ultimate resource to demonstrate the security or vulnerability of your network. It goes goes beyond simply detecting vulnerabilities to safely exploiting them. The first free integrated vulnerability and penetration testing tool.

This penetration security auditing and testing software solution is designed to allow organizations of all sizes mitigate, monitor and manage the latest security threats vulnerabilities and implement active security policies by performing penetration tests across their infrastructure and applications.



Research offers to evaluate the vulnerabilities on your network. Some features include:

• Run Faster: Because to make a good security testing is not enough
• Load Better: Major graphical interface and optimisation features were implemented
• Module Search: This version includes a new built-in search feature
• Improvements and Changes: Many more optimisations and updates were added
• Quality assurance: Reported bugs were patched

Download now your copy from http://www.insecurityresearch.com and try to defeat and test your network security

BackTrack 5 - Penetration Testing Distribution

BackTrack 5 R1 Released!

BackTrack is intended for all audiences from the most savvy security professionals to early newcomers to the information security field. BackTrack promotes a quick and easy way to find and update the largest database of security tools collection to-date. Our community of users range from skilled penetration testers in the information security field, government entities, information technology, security enthusiasts, and individuals new to the security community.

BackTrack 5 - Penetration Testing Distribution from Offensive Security on Vimeo.

Feedback from all industries and skill levels allows us to truly develop a solution that is tailored towards everyone and far exceeds anything ever developed both commercially and freely available. The project is funded by Offensive Security.

Whether you’re hacking wireless, exploiting servers, performing a web application assessment, learning, or social-engineering a client, BackTrack is the one-stop-shop for all of your security needs.