RE: firewall auditing/testing

["Michiel Baurichter" <baurichter () gmx net>]

Rocky,

Testing your firewall might consist of:
 a. testing the product itself is secure/adequate;
 b. testing if the correct rules are implemented (configuration).

I guess your boss is more interested in B and this is mostly driven by
business requirements (what services do we really need and driven by
design decisions. So: 

A. Testing a firewall product is not as easy as it seems. Most often due
to the fact that firewalls are built as (non-open source) black-box
devices and you end  up testing a configuration (see B) and not the
firewall product itself. Normally I would say check the security
bulletins for bug advisories and the vendor sites for stable
releases/patches, and try to find out on what OS components the firewall
is actually built on. 

B. Normally the most 'errors' are made in this part. Too many services
are allowed, too broad network ranges are specified. First write down
the only required services (including target and source IP addresses)
and subsequently compare this with the implemented rules. Secondly,
install a sniffing device (tcpdump/ethereal) directly behind the
firewall and analyse the traffic for an extended period (use smart
filter settings or have a huge disk available ;-) ). Lastly, run the
tools (as you have done) such as nmap, Nessus, xprobe, etc. Also,
periodically calculating a hash of the firewall rules might be
beneficial in detecting any changes that may have implemented after your
checks.

This should give you and your boss a good feeling about the
implementaton of the firewall.

Brds,
--Michiel
  
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rocky [mailto:pixscreenpoint () gmail com] 
> Sent: woensdag 14 juni 2006 1:30
> To: pen-test () securityfocus com
> Subject: firewall auditing/testing
>
>
> Hi guys,
>
> I'm new to the list and been reading your email archives but
> i have my own question how to test your firewall if its 
> really secured.
>
> Our IT director is really paranoid and he's not confident if 
> our current firewall security is really secured.
>
> I already presented a NMAP/Nessus audit logs and i even
> show to him the activity logs of our ACL that deny/drops 
> everything from the internet and permit only the basic applications.
>
> Is there any other tools that can penetrate/test the firewall 
> vulnerability?
>
> Thanks,
> rocky
>
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This List Sponsored by: Cenzic

Concerned about Web Application Security? 
Why not go with the #1 solution - Cenzic, the only one to win the Analyst's 
Choice Award from eWeek. As attacks through web applications continue to rise, 
you need to proactively protect your applications from hackers. Cenzic has the 
most comprehensive solutions to meet your application security penetration 
testing and vulnerability management needs. You have an option to go with a 
managed service (Cenzic ClickToSecure) or an enterprise software 
(Cenzic Hailstorm). Download FREE whitepaper on how a managed service can 
help you: http://www.cenzic.com/news_events/wpappsec.php 
And, now for a limited time we can do a FREE audit for you to confirm your 
results from other product. Contact us at request () cenzic com for details.
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