Nmap News: 4.84BETA4 release, Nmap book news, Summer of Code, Twitter, etc.

[Fyodor <fyodor () insecure org>]

Hello everyone.  We've seen 848 messages on nmap-dev this year, but
this is my first post to nmap-hackers.  So I have a lot of exciting
Nmap news to fit into this one email!

[=================Nmap 4.85BETA4==================]

While the last release I posted to this list was 4.76 in September of
last year, we've had four beta releases since then with hundreds of
important and dramatic changes.  I'm pretty happy with the latest
4.85BETA4 release, but more testing and feedback would help.  Please
give it a try and report any issues or suggestions to
nmap-dev () insecure org as described at
http://nmap.org/book/man-bugs.html.

4.85BETA4 (compared to 4.76) includes our new Ncat and Ndiff tools, a
ton of new NSE scripts for superior network discovery, more than 5,000
version detection signatures and nearly 2,000 OS fingerprints,
improved scan performance, and much more!  You can read about all the
changes at http://nmap.org/changelog.html.  Be sure to read all the
way down to 4.85BETA1, as that includes some of the most dramatic
changes.

Download Nmap 4.85BETA4 from: http://nmap.org/download.html

[===============Summer of Code 2009===============]

The Nmap project has been accepted to participate for our fifth year
of the Google Summer of Code!  This phenomenal program sponsors
college and graduate students to spend the summer working on open
source software.  Many of Nmap's coolest features started out as SoC
projects, including:

Zenmap GUI - http://nmap.org/zenmap/
Nmap Scripting Engine (NSE) - http://nmap.org/book/nse.html
Ncat - http://nmap.org/ncat/
Ndiff - http://nmap.org/ndiff/
2nd Generation OS Detection - http://nmap.org/book/osdetect.html

We hope to work on even more great projects this summer!  But the key
to successful projects is recruiting talented and motivated
participants.  If anyone here on nmap-hackers is an eligible college
or graduate student with time for full time open source development
work this summer, I urge you to apply!  Or if you have eligible
friends or relatives who might benefit from the program, please let
them know about it!

Applications are due next Friday (April 3) by Noon PDT (19:00 UTC).
More information:

Nmap SoC ideas and application instructions: http://nmap.org/soc/
Google's SoC 2009 information page: http://socghop.appspot.com/
Details on Nmap's Previous SoC Successes: 
  http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2008/11/nmaps-fourth-gsoc-success-stories-and.html

Even if you aren't eligible or interested in participating as a
student, you can always join the nmap-dev list and help out.  That is
where SoC work (and the rest of Nmap development) is coordinated.  So
you can discuss ideas, review code patches, try experimental releases,
etc.  See http://seclists.org/#nmap-dev for archives, or click "about
list" there for a signup form.

[==============Nmap Network Scanning==============]

I'm delighted to report that the Nmap book release was a huge success!
Nmap Network Scanning was even the top selling computer book on Amazon
for a while.  I was so excited I took a screen shot:

http://nmap.org/book/img/nns-top-seller-942x1024.png

It is great to see a book on network scanning up ahead of more
mainstream topics such as digital photography and blogging, even if
only for a day or two.

A down side of the unexpectedly high sales was that NNS went out of
stock on Amazon for a couple weeks.  Fortunately it is now back in
stock for immediate shipment:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0979958717?tag=secbks-20

Although it is hard in the U.S. to beat Amazon's $32.97 price (which
includes free shipping), I've added some other purchasing options
here:

http://nmap.org/book/#purchase

I was also gratified to see so many positive reviews of NNS from the
likes of TaoSecurity, Information Week, About.Com, Slashdot, ITWire,
etc.  I posted more than a dozen of them to:

http://nmap.org/book/#reviews

One goal is to make Nmap more accessible by translating the book to
many languages.  Contracts have already been signed for German,
Korean, and Brazilian Portuguese editions.  But if you have contacts
with publishers in other languages who might be interested, I'd love
to hear from you!  Details on the pending translations are available
here:

http://nmap.org/book/#reviews

Don't forget that more than half the book chapters are already free
online at:

http://nmap.org/book/toc.html

[================Nmap News Briefs================]

o Nmap won the LinuxQuestions.Org Network Security App of the Year
  Award--for the sixth year in a row!  See
  http://seclists.org/nmap-dev/2009/q1/0395.html.

o Nmap was spotted in its 8th movie (Khottabych).  Find them all at
  http://nmap.org/movies.html.

o The Nmap Project now has a Twitter account!  Don't expect more than
  a handful of tweets each month, but you can follow us at
  http://twitter.com/nmap/.

That is all for now, but stay tuned because we have a lot of exciting
plans for 2009!

Cheers,
Fyodor

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