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Perl in Top 50 Security Tools ..

by notsoevil (Pilgrim)
on Apr 17, 2001 at 19:49 UTC ( [id://73198]=perlmeditation: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??

If you're a SysAdmin, you should know what nmap is, so dig this:

'In May/June of 2000, we conducted a survey of 1200 Nmap users from the nmap-hackers mailing list to determine their favorite security tools.'

Guess what? Perl is (approx) 33rd in the list. Most popular (and a favorite of mine) is Nessus, but other good company being SAINT and SATAN among others.

I know I use several Perl scripts to tie together some of the mentioned tools, as well as some unique programs to do further auditing, logging and reporting.

So, while this is a Meditation, I'll ask a question: Do you use Perl for security purposes? If so, how (and why)?

Insecure Dot Org Top 50 Security Tools

--
notsoevil
--
Jeremiah 49:32 - And their camels shall be a booty. . .

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Perl in Top 50 Security Tools ..
by arhuman (Vicar) on Apr 17, 2001 at 21:32 UTC
    Hey funny !
    I take part in this survey...
    (Perl was of course among my choices... ;-)
    (With nessus, snort, tripwire, crack and some other less known)

    Now to answer your question :

    I use Perl to make my private security tools
    (private only beccause they're not coded well enough for a public release ;-)

    Existing Perl modules allow you to focus on what you're trying to do and not waste time reinventing the wheel.
    (Net::RawIP allowed me to code a stealth portscanner quite easily...)

    The regex are a big plus for data manipulation/decoding too
    (one of my very first Perl script was a filter taking a tcpdump output and giving me POP3 passwords...)

    And last but not the least, nothing can match Perl to 'glue' easily several existing programs,
    that's what I tend to do when playing with security/administration.

    "Only Bad Coders Badly Code In Perl" (OBC2IP)
Re (tilly) 1: Perl in Top 50 Security Tools ..
by tilly (Archbishop) on Apr 18, 2001 at 06:14 UTC
    Note carefully how many language are on that list of security tools. :-)

    And no, I don't normally do security stuff, but if I needed to I am sure I would pull out my Swiss Army Chainsaw...

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