Open Source security manual and training for ethical hacking

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/53/29416.html

By Tina Gasperson
Newsforge.com
20/02/2003

Source Security Testing Methodology Manual (OSSTMM) has become an
international open standard, according to its creator, Pete Herzog. It
is used by large organizations like the U.S. Treasury Department, Home
Depot, Verisign, and IBM, although Herzog says that he has a hard time
getting entities that use the manual to talk much about it.

Herzog has been in professional security since 1997 when he got
involved with IBM's Europe-based Emergency Response Service. Today he
heads up the Institute for Security and Open Methodologies (ISECOM) in
order to provide Open Source security tools and information via the
Internet. Herzog also describes it as an open, non-profit think tank
for developing new open standards and methodologies in security.

"The main problem I have is that nobody has to tell me if they use the
OSSTMM," due to its Open Source nature, says Herzog. "I have been
asked by a person at the U.S. Navy SPAWAR division about its inclusion
in their Posture Assessment document. I also have also some comments
from the U.S. Airforce and Army -- the biggest downloaders of the
manual based on web traffic."

IBM's Ethical Hacking team has the OSSTMM in its knowledge database,
says Herzog, and they are considering sponsoring a workshop based on
the manual.

The Intense School, a company that provides "boot camp"-like IT
certification courses, uses the manual in its Hacking Boot Camp,
described as " program that brings together the hacker's mind and a
professional security testing methodology-the OSSTMM."

"Overall, I have to say we are everywhere and nowhere," Herzog says.  
"We are still a small-time operation that mixes contributors with
peer-reviewers and editors." In fact, even though people pop up with
suggestions and contributions now and then, the entire operation is
mostly a one man show, according to Herzog.

"I developed the manual, accepted feedback and commentary, opened it
up for people to use it, and I update it. Some people submit more than
others but it's still me who ends up doing all the work. I have a few
editors who help fix it up but really the whole OSSTMM comes down to
me including the submissions and doing the reseach and lab work to
expand the missing areas."

Herzog says the OSSTMM was born after he scribbled some notes on a
napkin during a train commute. "When I got off the train and met my
wife, I told her I figured out something big. After I explained it to
her we decided the best thing to do was to scratch together the idea
and publish it on the Internet so everyone can use it. I had no idea
how it would be received."

Now the manual is about to be released in a 3.0 version, and Herzog
has developed a training course based on the OSSTMM.

"Since the manual only tells the what, when, and where of security
testing," says Herzog, "the course will provide the how and why."  
Herzog created an international peer review of both the manual and the
training materials. The course provides the information a "security
testing professional must know to be a practical, resourceful ethical
hacker and penetration tester," he adds.

Herzog's says his training will offer course materials for free,
provided that would-be instructors attend a week-long "Train the
Trainers" course that is designed to "ensure proper instruction."

"We create a partnership between all trainers, who openly share
marketing and event materials with each other," says Herzog. "The fee
for the course is to pay for the resources only - the trainer,
network, tests, materials, and classroom - and to suport the Hacker
High School program."

The Hacker High School program, also developed by Herzog, gives
students access to a test network set up expressly to allow hacking
attempts as a learning device. "The event teaches Internet legalities
and ethics to high school students," says Herzog. "Basically, we
applied the community effort of open source to training and it seems
to be working."

Herzog says that the 3.0 version of the manual is to be released any
day now, and a worldwide network of partners for administering the
certification. For more information, visit the ISECOM website



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