Fall Personal Project: Update 1

So the fall home NIDS project is going well. I have removed the old router and replaced it with a newer Netgear b/g/n router. I also took the opportunity to do some cable management.

There is one feature I wish manufacturers would add to the routers and that is to export the machine address ACL to a file. It would have been really nice. As it s I just copied the table from the html, but still, since I use MAC ACL filters, it would make things easier.

So the 10/100 hub is on the way, I will order my dell zino this week after I finish some papers which are due. I would really like to thank all the folks over at the snort forums for their assistance and guidance in this project. They really know what they are doing.

I spent some time this weekend looking up the literature in some major journals on snort usage. I'm almost positive that my final dissertation will somehow involve the use of snort, but I'm not sure how yet.

More updates as the equipment comes to me. I will post a topology diagram later on the next update once I make sure everything is running.

Fall Personal Project

So this fall's personal project will be to install a personal IDS at my home, then try like crazy to penetrate it. Snort snort snort. After writing several papers on the software I have come to respect it even more.

I often check the basics of a site or of a home network setup by using the "shields up" but I know that my router kills the majority of the traffic which the service tests for in a vulnerability test. I am looking to setup a fully functioning DMZ with a snort based NIDS and then slam it until I can break it (without cheating of course). I have ordered a new router simply because I have been a little lapse on keeping my encryption as strong as I can and it's time to do so. I also reall like some of the new functions in netgear's newer routers which allows the creation of a DMZ out of the box.

Also, I will probably use Ubuntu and some sort of small form factor like a mac mini or a dell zino since I need power to be a consideration. I would love to keep it in the ubuntu family line though, I need to beef up my skills in administrating one since it has been almost a year since I set a box up with ubuntu.

We will see how it goes. I will post to a page here or keep it updated in the blog.