Re: Port Scanner Challenge Revisited: Nmap, Unicornscan, Portbunny

[Fyodor <fyodor () insecure org>]

On Thu, Jan 31, 2008 at 06:01:50PM +0100, Robert E. Lee wrote:
> Earlier this month, Tyler Reguly released some comparison test findings
> for Nmap, Unicornscan, and Portbunny
> (http://www.computerdefense.org/?p=443). Unfortunately, these tests
> weren't entirely accurate or indicative of what a security tester would
> see in the field.
>
> I have spent some evening hours conducting my own tests and have
> completed three rounds of testing.

I wish your mails announcing your "port scanner challenge" (and the
posts themselves) would disclose that you are the author of
UnicornScan, which (big surprise) you declared to be the "clear
winner" of your tests.  I'm not accusing you of trying to hide your
affiliation, it is probably just an oversight on your part.

The Portbunny author also did some of his own tests prior to his CCC
talk, and amazingly Portbunny was the clear winner of those.  (my
response: http://seclists.org/nmap-dev/2008/q1/0096.html ).

The only _independent_ tests I've seen lately are the ones you
referenced from ComputerDefense.Org
(http://www.computerdefense.org/?p=443).  Here is the conclusion from
those tests (the ellipsis are in the original):

  "When I started this challenge, I wasn't sure what the outcome would
   be... the only prediction I had was that unicornscan would be
   defeated by both PortBunny and nmap. This proved to be
   true... Between nmap and PortBunny, due to the hype around
   PortBunny and the claims that I had seen... I really wasn't sure. I
   expected it to be a close battle between the two... at most a
   TKO... but in the end it was a straight-up KO and in reality
   PortBunny was never really a contender.  
   Winner: nmap"

I'm not saying the ComputerDefense.Org review was perfect or
definitive, but at least they are independent.  All scanners have
benefits and drawbacks, and there may be cases where people prefer
UnicornScan or PortBunny to Nmap, so I'm glad those tools are around
and I hope they continue to improve.

Cheers,
Fyodor


Disclosure: I lead the Nmap Security Scanner project

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