RE: Penetration Test Hardware Vendor

["Todd Towles" <toddtowles () brookshires com>]

Kyle makes a good point about the wireless card with a workable chipset.
Depending on the tools (or linux CD), several different types of
wireless cards could be usefully.

Prism2 chipset with the optional external antenna plug are really good.
If you don't want to walk around with a external antenna, then make sure
the card has a internal antenna as well. I use a Cisco Aironet card
something..that were taken from a Cisco AP. It has too plug (because of
the AP antennas), but it not no internal. Just something to watch out
for.

Older Linksys B cards are Prism2. Cisco cards are nice because they
create two interfaces when inserted. One is regular and one is in
Monitor mode. 

-Todd

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kyle Maxwell [mailto:krmaxwell () gmail com] 
> Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 9:52 AM
> To: pen-test () securityfocus com
> Cc: amoeba; dan.berberich () gmail com
> Subject: Re: Penetration Test Hardware Vendor
>
> On 5/12/05, amoeba <amoeba () amoebazone com> wrote:
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Dan Berberich [mailto:dan.berberich () gmail com]
> > > Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 4:47 AM
> > > To: pen-test () securityfocus com
> > > Subject: ISO: Penetration Test Hardware Vendor
> > >
> > > All - I'm looking to find if anyone makes specific hardware for 
> > > penetration testing. Specifically a laptop. I already 
> know that the 
> > > 'more is the better' in configuring a COTS machine, but 
> I'm looking 
> > > to see if anyone makes one already 'tricked-out' so to 
> say. I'm not 
> > > looking for advice on specs, I can pretty much guess that 
> (ie - as 
> > > much RAM and fastest processor as you can squeeze into a 
> tiny box, 
> > > oh and the biggest HD possible, yeah and a 1600x1200 ...).
> >
> > It sounds like you mean you want a pre-installed OS with 
> penetration 
> > testing and auditing tools? You may want to look into some of the 
> > security-oriented linux distros which may suit your needs. 
> They would 
> > provide you with the "tricked-out" tools and, in the case 
> of the Live 
> > CD distros, wouldn't necessarily need to replace your existing 
> > daily-use OS of choice. Some of the more security-focused 
> > distributions are quite well put together with a full 
> complement of forensics, pen-test, and auditing tools.
> > Check out:
> http://distrowatch.com/search.php?category=Forensics&origin=All&basedo
> > n=All& desktop=All&architecture=All&status=Active
> >
> > Also,
> >
> > http://biatchux.dmzs.com/ F.I.R.E - the Forensic and 
> Incident Response 
> > Environment Live CD distro.
>
> For live CDs for pen-testing, Security Focus has a recent article at
> http://securityfocus.com/columnists/323 that lists some more.
>
> I think the OP was talking about the hardware itself, though. 
> Most any laptop will do, though I suggest a wireless card 
> with a chipset that will work with the tools you want to use. 
> RAM is useful in general, but I don't know that pen-testing 
> has particular needs. CPU is nice if you're doing password 
> cracking. In general, anything that will run your OS of 
> choice (probably Linux or OpenBSD for this sort of
> application) will do what you need. I like Thinkpads because 
> they've really reliable for me in the past, and the newer 
> Dells seem to be a lot better, but YMMV.
>
> --
> Kyle Maxwell
> http://caffeinatedsecurity.com
> [krmaxwell () gmail com]