RE: firewall auditing/testing

[Ralph Forsythe <rforsythe () 5280tech com>]

I recently installed Splunk as a log search tool...  Holy cow, does that 
beat the heck out of grepping through large files!  Grab the free trial 
download and play with it.  We're still on the free trial (hoping to get 
purchase approval one of these days) but I can *instantly* search the 
23-million or so entries it knows about at any given time.  Try that with 
grep, it will take you a while.

At my place of employment we've also been using Sawmill as a log reporting 
tool, due to the compatibility with just about everything and ability to 
customize, well, just about everything.  We store 2GB+ a day of firewall 
logs into Syslog, which Sawmill imports for the report analysis.  I also 
have Splunk monitoring those syslog files in realtime, so I get 
up-to-the-second search capability.

Not to knock the grep/tail skills, they're important to know how to use in 
advanced ways in a lot of situations; I've just found some better tools 
for getting things done when you have to deal with massive amounts of 
data.

- Ralph

On Fri, 23 Jun 2006, Eric Pinkerton wrote:

> Rocky,
>
> If I understand correctly you are relying on the terminal monitor to see
> what is happening on the box?
>
> You should really set up Syslog server inside the network and then use
> the logging command on the Firewall.
>
> That way you can tail/grep the syslog and trace events and problems
> easier.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rocky [mailto:pixscreenpoint () gmail com]
> Sent: Wednesday, 14 June 2006 10:43 PM
> To: pen-test () securityfocus com
> Cc: Michiel Baurichter
> Subject: Re: firewall auditing/testing
>
> Thank you all for those who responded. I actually used pix 525 then
> upgraded to 3845 ISR with IOS FW. So far it doesn't give me any trouble
> even though i also run QoS,IPS and ACL between internal interfaces and i
> have not tried content/url filtering.
>
> I am not happy about the IOS IPS because i don't really see the real
> activity logs. show ip ips stat does not give any.
> i just turn on the terminal monitor command to see if there's activity
> logs. Is there any special command for this?
>
> Thank you,
> 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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