Network Security Toolkit (NST) / News: Recent posts

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "NST 40 SVN:13973". This release is based on Fedora 40 using Linux Kernel: "kernel-6.8.9-300.fc40.x86_64". This release brings the NST distribution on par with Fedora 40.
This is mostly a maintenance release with improved NST WUI functionality. Below is a summary of the feature improvements included in this release:... read more

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "NST 38 SVN:13644". This release is based on Fedora 38 using Linux Kernel: "kernel-6.3.12-200.fc38.x86_64". This release brings the NST distribution on par with Fedora 38.

This is mostly a maintenance release with improved NST WUI functionality. Below is a summary of the feature improvements included in this release:

• Access to the Open Vulnerability Assessment Scanner (OpenVAS) and Greenbone Vulnerability Management (Greenbone GVM) has been refactored to run as a docker container providing the full-featured vulnerability scanner. The latest Greenbone Community Edition container is used.
• An acceleration overlay and control was added to the geolocation of Dash Cam videos. See the graphic: NST Map Data Layer - Dash Cam Track With Acceleration Overlay.
• The NST WUI ARP Scan has been enhanced to support the configured Name Service (NS) switch hosts resolver. An article on NST WUI ARP Scan usage can be found here.
• As always, the networking and security applications included have been updated to their latest version which can be found in the manifest.
• For more details related to the code changes for this release, refer to the "Change Log" page or review the change log for an individual RPM package.

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "NST 36 SVN:13232". This release is based on Fedora 36 using Linux Kernel: "kernel-5.18.10-200.fc36.x86_64". This release brings the NST distribution on par with Fedora 36.
This is mostly a maintenance release with improved NST WUI functionality. Below is a summary of the feature improvements included in this release:... read more

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "NST 34 SVN:12783". This release is based on Fedora 34 using Linux Kernel: "kernel-5.13.07-200.fc34.x86_64".
This is an interim release that supports better handling of UEFI NST system installation and booting.

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "NST 34 SVN:12743". This release is based on Fedora 34 using Linux Kernel: "kernel-5.12.10-300.fc34.x86_64". This release brings the NST distribution on par with Fedora 34.

This is mostly a maintenance release with improved NST WUI functionality. Below is a summary of new tools and feature improvements included in this release:... read more

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "NST 32 SVN:11992". This release is based on Fedora 32 using Linux Kernel: "5.6.15-300.fc32.x86_64". This release brings the NST distribution on par with Fedora 32.

Here are some of the highlights for this release:

• A new NST WUI page for displaying Wireshark tshark Statistics Conversations has been developed. This page focuses on displaying network conversations between two specific endpoints in tabular format and results can be further analyzed with the NST Network Tools Widgets. One can choose a Conversation Type and Display filter to isolate traffic of interest. The table output also contains the ability to create stream display filters for packet capture decode analysis. Many other actions and features can be found on this page.... read more

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "NST 30 SVN:11210". This release is based on Fedora 30 using Linux Kernel: "5.1.17-300.fc30.x86_64". This release brings the NST distribution on par with Fedora 30.

Here are some of the highlights for this release:

• The NST WUI now supports geolocation of photos or videos that have embedded geotagged information. This provides the security professional with potential location and speed discovery when conducting a forensic analysis. The combination of using the ExifTool utility for metadata extraction with the NST Mapping Tools provides this geolocation capability.... read more

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "NST 28 SVN:10439". This is a summer 2018 interim release which includes many bug fixes and is based on Fedora 28 using Linux Kernel: "4.17.17-200.fc28.x86_64". This release brings the NST distribution on par with the Fedora 28 latest updates.

Here are some of the highlights and new tools added for this release:

• A new NST WUI page was created to support the YouGetSignal reverse IPv4 Address domain lookup service. This service can be used to find all domains hosted on a web server.
• The testssl.sh command line tool was added as an RPM package and integrated in to the NST distribution. This tool checks a server's service on any port for the support of TLS / SSL ciphers, certificates, protocols as well as recent cryptographic flaws and more.
• Many NST WUI bug fixes were completed and enhancements were added to the NST Shell Administration console menu and the IPv4 / IPv6 / Host Name Tool widgets.
• As always, the networking and security applications included have been updated to their latest version which can be found in the manifest.
• For more details related to the code changes for this release, refer to the "Change Log" page or review the change log for an individual RPM package.

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "NST 28 SVN:10234". This release is based on Fedora 28 using Linux Kernel: "4.17.3-200.fc28.x86_64". This release brings the NST distribution on par with Fedora 28.

Here are some of the highlights for this release:

• Sguil: The Analyst Console for Network Security Monitoring has been integrated into NST for access and display of realtime IDS events and raw packet captures. A new NST WUI page for Snort IDS Management is shown below with Sguil access. The new web-based Sguil RealTime Console is also depicted below using Proofpoint ET (Emerging Threats) Pro Rulesets.... read more

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "NST 26 SVN:9267". This release is based on Fedora 26 using Linux Kernel: "4.13.4-200.fc26". This release brings the NST distribution on par with Fedora 26.

Here are some of the highlights for this release:

• The Ntopng Hosts page has been enhanced for the geolocation of top active traffic flow connections. The Map below depicts top flow connections emanating from a site in Albany, N.Y. to web and compute cloud services data centers located in Ashburn, Va. (Amazon - AWS) and Cambridge, Ma. (Akamai - Cloud Delivery Platform). A host marker spreading feature allows one to expose flows to load balancing servers at those locations. The combination of host marker spreading with the superimposition of flows is similar to the Etherape application but with the enhancement of geolocation. Flows can be filtered for fine-grained analysis. Each host marker has an associated information window popup that includes nDPI - Ntop Deep Packet Inspection protocol detection, traffic flow rates and the accumulated data sent and received totals. An "Active Flow Connections Editor" is also provided for configuring flow appearance and filter control.... read more

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "NST 24 SVN:7977". This release is based on Fedora 24 using Linux Kernel: "4.6.3-300.fc24". This release brings the NST distribution on par with Fedora 24.

Here are some of the highlights for this release:

• NST will now be delivered as a 64 bit image only. 32 bit images have been retired.
• A new Multi-Traceroute (MTR) networking tool has been developed for NST 24. This tool provides an interactive Traceroute visual using Scapy similar to the Traceroute Command and has been integrated into the NST WUI. Results from the tool can expose load balance tiers and NAT. NST uses the Python 3 version of Scapy known as Scapy3k. MTR includes new networking features such as running multiple queries with each target, display of Round Trip Time (RTT), selection of using Network Protocols: TCP, UDP and ICMP and enhanced SVG graphical results. Key NST WUI integration features include GUI options interface, an interactive MTR SVG graphic, NST IPv4 Address Tools integration, IPv4 Address Geolocation, MTR session Packet Capture, ASN lookup, MTR historical session selection and management, MTR SVG graphic editing, MTR session console output access and SVG Graphic image conversion.
  The MTR graphic below shows the results of running a TCP Multi-Traceroute session to both the "www.networksecuritytoolkit.org" and "www.bing.com" sites using ports: "80" and "443" with a query count of "2". This results in a total of "8" trace routes. See the "Document on MTR" at the NST Wiki site for additional usage examples and a reference guide.
• A new interactive 3D Pie Chart depicting the results from a ntop Deep Packet Inspection (nDPI) is now an integral part of the NST WUI Network Packet Capture protocol decode. An example nDPI Decode visual is shown below. See the "Document on 3D Pie Chart of nDPI Detected Protocols" at the NST Wiki site for a reference diagram.
• Added the "SSLyze" project for analyzing a server's SSL configuration to the NST Networking Tools Widget.
• A darkness/lightness Google Map control has been added the the NST Map Tools. This control allows to one to make the background map image less intrusive.
• As always, the networking and security applications included have been updated to their latest version which can be found in the manifest.
• For more details related to the code changes for this release, refer to the "Change Log" page.... read more

This ISO release fixes several bugs found in the NST WUI after the NST 22-7248 release. We found these fixes sufficient enough to distribute and build a new NST ISO. This 4.2.3-200.fc22.i686 kernel is used with this release.

1) Refactored NST WUI navigation anchor elements.
2) Fixed the broken NST Maps Ruler Tool exposed by a new version of the Google Maps.

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "NST 22 SVN:7248". This release is based on Fedora 22 using Linux Kernel: "4.1.7-200.fc22". This release brings the NST distribution on par with Fedora 22.

Here are some of the highlights for this release:

• Development of a new geolocation map presentation using technology from the WebGL Globe project. This allows for gelocated IPv4 Addresses to be rendered on a globe within your browser using WebGL. See the live demo on the NST Wiki site: NST WebGL (View Globe).... read more

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "NST 20 SVN:6535". This is an interim release which includes all of the NST and Fedora 20 package updates since 2014-Feb-20 rolled into a fresh ISO image. This release is based on Fedora 20 using Linux Kernel: "3.18.5-101.fc20". If you are building your own NST YUM repository or have a subscription to the NST PRO YUM repository, you do not need this ISO image. You can simply yum update your NST system(s).... read more

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "NST 20 SVN:5663". This release is based on Fedora 20 using Linux Kernel: "3.12.10-300.fc20". Significant effort has been devoted to bringing this release on par with Fedora 20. Starting with NST 20, the "Mate" Desktop is now the preferred desktop.

Here are some of the highlights for this release:
* Added a new drag zoom feature to the "NST Ntopng IPv4 Hosts" application. Ntopng is a network traffic probe used for high-speed web-based traffic analysis and flow collection. This drag zoom feature implements a traditional method for zooming in on a particular area of interest on Google Maps by positioning and sizing a zoom rectangle with the mouse. One can easily use this feature to zoom into an area of clustered Ntopng IPv4 Hosts for further investigation which is depicted in this Annotated Image.
* Integration of the "Mate Desktop" and the "LightDM GTK Desktop" login screen greeter are now the preferred defaults for NST.
* Added a new NST WUI page for the network utility script: "getipaddr".
* Added a new "Network Interface Renaming" mode to the NST script: "nstnetcfg" that creates Predictable Network Interface Names which will survive each system reboot. This capability is beneficial to an NST system equipped with multiple Network Interface adapters.
* Integration of "IPv4 Alias Address Management" into the NST script: "nstnetcfg" that allows for the creation and removal of IPv4 Alias Addresses.
* A number of new articles on getting NST 20 up and running on a system have been written at the NST Wiki site:
* Upgrade to NST 20
* NST 20 Getting Started
* NST 20 Hard Disk Installation
* Copying ISO Images To USB
* As always, the networking and security applications included have been updated to their latest version which can be found in the manifest.
* For more details related to the code changes for this release, refer to the "Change Log" page.

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "NST 18 SVN:5413". This is an interim release which includes all of the NST and Fedora 18 package updates since "2013-Apr-13" rolled into a fresh ISO image. If you are building your own NST YUM repository or have a subscription to the NST PRO YUM repository, you do not need this ISO image. You can simply "yum update" your NST system(s).... read more

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "NST 18 SVN:4509". This release is based on Fedora 18 using Linux Kernel: "3.8.6-203.fc18". This is the most robust and stable release of NST to date. Significant effort has been devoted to integrate "systemd" service control support with all network services applications thus providing enhanced management and flexibility when using the NST WUI.... read more

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "v2.16.0-4104". This release is based on Fedora 16 using Linux Kernel: "3.4.9-2.fc16". This is a interim release which includes all of the NST and Fedora 16 package updates since 2012-Feb-27 rolled into a fresh ISO image. If you are building your own NST yum repository or have a subscription to the NST PRO yum repository, you may not need this ISO image as you should be able to simply yum update you NST system(s).... read more

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "v2.16.0". This release is based on Fedora 16 using Linux Kernel: "3.2.7-1.fc16" .
Here are some of the highlights for this release:

* Major enhancements to the Network Interface Bandwidth Monitor application including a Threshold Pause feature with bandwidth rate state notifications.

* Developed a new NST WUI ARP Scan AJAX application which utilizes the arp-scan network tool. One can quickly scan and inventory each attached network segment throughout your network infrastructure and also perform additional security auditing on each discovered host. See the NST Wiki page: "HowTo Use The NST WUI arp-scan Page To Quickly Locate Hosts" for further information.... read more

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "v2.15.0". This release is based on Fedora 15 using Linux Kernel: "2.6.40-4.fc15 - Rebased from latest Linux Kernel: 3.0" . Here are some of the highlights for this release:

* Developed a new interactive dynamic SVG/AJAX enabled Network Interface Bandwidth Monitor application that is integrated into the NST WUI for monitoring pseudo real-time network bandwidth rates.... read more

We are pleased to announce an NST maintenance release (v2.13.0-1713) which is based on Fedora 13 using Linux Kernel: 2.6.34.7-66.fc13. Here are some of the highlights for this release:

* Support has been added so that NST systems may now be registered at the new NST Pro web site. For more information on the benefits of this
professional service, see: http://www.networksecuritytoolkit.org/nstpro.... read more

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: NST13 (v2.13.0) which is based on Fedora13 using Linux Kernel: 2.6.34.7-56.fc13. The release has focused on building a framework for the geolocation and rendering of network entities including the management and configuration of back-end geolocation methods and database repositories.
Here are some of the highlights for this release:

* Created a framework for geolocating network entities with NST.... read more

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "v2.11.0". This release is based on Fedora 11 using Linux Kernel: "2.6.30.5-43.fc11". The architecture for building an NST distribution has been completely redesigned and engineered. Starting with this release, All system, network and security applications are now included as RPM packages. This allowed us to take advantage of the Fedora Live CD Project for spinning off an "NST Live" distribution. This project will also help make it easier to develop future releases of NST.
We have created redundant repository sites for NST built RPM packages so that an NST system may be upgraded and revisioned via the internet. These capabilities continue to move NST towards being classified as an enterprise grade distribution that is both extensible and maintainable. With previous NST releases, it was difficult for users to add features and scope by compiling source code or adding new applications. Now one can simply YUM install their favorite applications (e.g., compilers, editors, X Window managers, etc...) via the command line or through the NST WUI.
Here are some of the highlights for this release:... read more

Network Security Toolkit (NST) is a bootable ISO image (Live CD) based on Fedora Core 8 providing easy access to best-of-breed Open Source Network Security Applications and should run on most x86 platforms. NST can also be used for crash recovery.

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "v1.8.1". This release is based on Fedora 8 using the Linux Kernel: "2.6.26.8-57.fc8". Here are some of the highlights for this release:... read more

We are pleased to announce the latest NST release: "v1.8.0". This release is based on Fedora 8 using the Linux Kernel: "2.6.25.6-27.fc8". Here are some of the highlights for this release:

* The NST Web User Interface (WUI), has been greatly enhanced and cleaned up. Some note worthy enhancements include:
o Multi-Tap Network Packet Capture and Management. Simultaneous network packet capture on up to 4 network interfaces per Multi-Tap session is supported. For example, one can capture network packets from the clean and dirty side of a firewall device and have the results automatically merged into a single capture file for analysis. See the "Multi-Tap Network Packet Capturing" page at the "NST Wiki" for further information.
o An enhanced Network Packet Capture Mangement and Status Interface.
o The use of AJAX and JSON to provide a more dynamic and interactive NST WUI. For example, the network interface label on the NST Start page can be clicked on to monitor that interface in real-time.
o Support for WPA-PSK wireless connections.
o Extensive tooltips and a new menu bar allowing one to quickly navigate the NST WUI.
o A "NST JavaScript Console" has been added. This is an interactive interface and library of JavaScript objects, functions, methods and properties designed to help software engineers diagnosis and develop "JavaScript Code" for building dynamic web pages. It is located on the bottom footer of every page including the one you are on.
* We transitioned from Fedora Core 5 to Fedora 8 as the underlying base of the NST.
* The addition of wireless firmware packages to support several new wireless chipsets.
* One should be able to boot the NST CD from SATA attached CD drives.
* As always, most networking and security applications included have been updated to their latest version (See the "Change Log" for individual package updates).