Perl in Top 50 Security Tools ..

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

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

Comment on Perl in Top 50 Security Tools ..

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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)	[reply]
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...	[reply]