2006 Nmap/Google SoC Results

[Fyodor <fyodor () insecure org>]

Hello everyone,

In preparing for SoC 2007, it is important to look back at how 2006
went.  I just realized that I never sent a summary of the results, but
I'm happy to report that the program was a huge success for Nmap (just
as it was in 2005).  Here are the highlights:

o Diman Todorov and I extended Nmap to support highly efficient helper
  scripts with the Nmap Scripting Engine.  The system embeds a LUA
  interpreter to run many scripts in parallel for purposes such as
  vulnerability detection, advanced version detection, etc.  The
  system has been integrated into the Nmap 4.21ALPHA series and is
  documented in depth at http://insecure.org/nmap/nse/ .  I'm
  delighted to report that Diman has offered to come back this year
  and mentor a SoC student or two to further enhance the system.

o In 2005 I worked with Zhao Lei to redesign Nmap OS detection from
  scratch and develop a proof-of-concept implementation.  He also
  dramatically improved the 1st generation database.  In the summer of
  2006, Zhao returned to develop an optimized parallel implementation
  of the system (we also further improved the design).  The system
  debuted in Nmap 4.20 and is documented in depth at
  http://insecure.org/nmap/osdetect/ .

o Adriano Monteiro Marques was an Nmap SoC student in '05 and '06
  developing the UMIT graphical interface Nmap.  This is not one of
  those trivial graphical wrappers which simply gives each Nmap option
  its own button.  UMIT offers powerful searching, sorting, and scan
  profile creation.  I hope to soon ditch NmapFE and make UMIT the
  official front end for Nmap.  UMIT has now developed so far that
  Google has agreed to sponsor it as a SoC project in its own right,
  with Adriano as the administrator and primary mentor.

o Marek Majkowski spent the summer of '06 on a slew of smaller
  projects.  He spent a long time optimizing Nmap performance and
  fixing bugs.  He also added many cool features, most notably IP
  options support (--ip-options).

o Eddie Bell also worked on many projects in '06.  Perhaps the most
  notable is parallel traceroute support which is extremely clever about
  determining the best type of packets to use for reaching the target.
  This functionality is in Nmap 4.21ALPHA2 and later.

o Doug Hoyte did all sorts of great SoC work in '05 and '06.  Perhaps
  most notable was his substantial improvements to the Nmap Version
  Detection system and his expansions of the corresponding database.
  Version detection is documented in depth at
  http://insecure.org/nmap/vscan/ .

For our 2005 success stories, see my post at
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=183143&cid=15133184 .

So there you have it, another successful Summer!  Let's hope that 2007
proves as good or even better!  I'm working on the new "ideas" page
now, and am still open to project suggestions!

Cheers,
Fyodor


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