Nmap 5.00 Released!

[Fyodor <fyodor () insecure org>]

Hello everyone.  I'm delighted to announce the release of Nmap 5.00!
This is the first major release since 4.50 in 2007, and includes about
600 significant changes since then!  We consider this the most
important Nmap release since 1997, and we recommend that all current
users upgrade.

There are too many changes to list them all in this email, so here are
the top 5 improvements in Nmap 5:

1) The new Ncat tool aims to be your Swiss Army Knife for data
   transfer, redirection, and debugging. We released a whole users'
   guide (http://nmap.org/ncat/guide/index.html) detailing security
   testing and network administration tasks it made easy with Ncat.
   Details: http://nmap.org/5/#changes-ncat

2) The addition of the Ndiff scan comparison tool completes Nmap's
   growth into a whole suite of applications which work together to
   serve network administrators and security practitioners. Ndiff
   makes it easy to automatically scan your network daily and report
   on any changes (systems coming up or going down or changes to the
   software services they are running). The other two tools now
   packaged with Nmap itself are Ncat and the much improved Zenmap GUI
   and results viewer.  Details: http://nmap.org/5/#changes-ndiff

3) Nmap performance has improved dramatically. We spent last summer
   scanning much of the Internet and merging that data with internal
   enterprise scan logs to determine the most commonly open
   ports. This allows Nmap to scan fewer ports by default while
   finding more open ports. We also added a fixed-rate scan engine so
   you can bypass Nmap's congestion control algorithms and scan at
   exactly the rate (packets per second) you specify.  Details:
   http://nmap.org/5/#changes-performance

4) We released Nmap Network Scanning, the official Nmap guide to
   network discovery and security scanning. From explaining port
   scanning basics for novices to detailing low-level packet crafting
   methods used by advanced hackers, this book suits all levels of
   security and networking professionals. A 42-page reference guide
   documents every Nmap feature and option, while the rest of the book
   demonstrates how to apply those features to quickly solve
   real-world tasks. More than half the book is available in the free
   online edition at http://nmap.org/book/toc.html.  Details:
   http://nmap.org/5/#changes-book

5) The Nmap Scripting Engine (NSE) is one of Nmap's most powerful and
   flexible features. It allows users to write (and share) simple
   scripts to automate a wide variety of networking tasks. Those
   scripts are then executed in parallel with the speed and efficiency
   you expect from Nmap. All existing scripts have been improved, and
   32 new ones added. New scripts include a whole bunch of
   MSRPC/NetBIOS attacks, queries, and vulnerability probes; open
   proxy detection; whois and AS number lookup queries; brute force
   attack scripts against the SNMP and POP3 protocols; and many
   more. All NSE scripts and modules are described in the new NSE
   documentation portal.  Details: http://nmap.org/5/#changes-nse

To learn about even more changes, see the full release notes here:

http://nmap.org/5/

The Nmap 5.00 source code and Linux, Mac, and Windows packages are
available for download at the usual place:

http://nmap.org/download.html

Go give it a try!  And if you find any bugs, let us know on nmap-dev
(http://nmap.org/book/man-bugs.html).

As an open source project, we don't have a marketing budget.  So
please help spread the word about the new release!  I encounter many
folks at security conferences who have been using Nmap for more than a
decade but just as a simple port scanner and never learned about the
newer features.  So this is our chance to spread the word about NSE,
Ncat, Ndiff, Zenmap, and all the other great things Nmap has to offer!

Enjoy the new release!
-Fyodor
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