so.. 'host -t ptr 1.2.3.4 ip.of.dns.server' is giving no joy?

Are you sure you've found a legit DNS server?

...Just make sure you add it to the top of the list for speed

...or query the DNS server you found directly with the host command (nice opportunity to test your newly found bash-fu )

I haven't got this myself yet, but I have heard good things about it:
Build Your Own Security Lab: A Field Guide for Network Testing (Paperback).
It's a book that could get people a bigger lab with more toys, two birds with one stone

Nubie,

sounds like you are going down the right track. Basically find each *.h (along with asociated *.c) file that is missing and make sure the compiler knows where to find it. Once you've traced everything down it *should* compile.

I wouldn't recomment trying to recreate the libraries yourself.....

Agreed this is a good article that goes beyond the media circus of 'Oh noes, the sky is falling'. I'm just waiting to see if there is any real impact from the findings once they release full details.

Think BillV beat you to the punch though....

Scucci,

I've only got limited experience as I've only used one of the products that you mention, and only from an end-user perspective. My employer recently rolled out CheckPoint PointSec, and I managed to get it to hose my laptop within a week. Hard-drive would not boot past the PointSec login, obviously HDD is encrypted, so recovering data was not possible. Thank goodness for good backup policies.

It seems the system didn't like being booted from a USB stick into BackTrack (disclaimr: may not have been the pen drive, however ran Windows [I know...], booted to Backtrack, back to Windows, dead box)

However, with the exception of my box, the system was successfully rolled out to many users without issue. Buyer beware, in this case backups and system restores covered my a$$.

Dark_Knight,

Hope you enjoy the OSCP. From my experience it was a great course and I learned a lot (and confirmed a lot of stuff I 'sort of' knew from other sources). My lab time (took 60 days) finished around a month ago and I have the exam scheduled *soon*.

I'd advise not taking your foot of the gas (as I did) if you start to get through the material quickly. Some of the final challenges and extra miles can be challenging and time consuming. Plus I would have liked to have spent more time 'playing' in the lab after completing the required exercises.

Let us know how you get on, specifically I'd be interested to see how the material compares to the CEH you've already got, as it's on my list of potential 'nexts'....

<Edit> as a side note, any advice from those already passed the exam would be appreciated as I'm starting to get slightly nervous...</Edit>

Nice catch, hadn't found that one before, cheers

The level of information often depends on the thoroughness of the organisation if they have provider independant (PI) IP space, or the thoroghness of the local internet registrar (LIR) if they have provider aggregated (PA) IP space.

From a whois search on the IP you should be able to get valid information for the organisation actually using the IP (this is a requirement made by the regional internet registrars (RIR) [at least in Europe, RIPE's authority]). However often these records are ambiguous or outdated as they are not updated as regularly as they should be. Also some larger LIR routinely assign IP space from a large allocation (typically a /19-/24) and only update the whois records for the parent block.

Another useful tool for recon work is myipneighbors/, as it allows you to find other domains using the same IP. This is useful for services running virtual hosts on the same server or shared colocation environments.

It's worth noting that the above techniques do not cause any traffic to reach the target from your IP address, so they are silent in that regard. Obviously once you start stepping up a gear with port enumeration and banner grabbing etc. this changes completely.

Hope this is some help.

Nice article Bill, thanks for sharing.

It'll be interesting to see how close Fyodor has got once the full details of the 'new' attack are released.

Guys,

looks like the SysInternals suite has been update. The ISC state it better than I could:

Get your stocking fillers HERE

NickFnord,

just come across this story on Slashdot which may be of interst

Don,

nice heads up, my brains boggling with ideas

(all of them ethical of course ....)

Brian,

I read this over at DarkReading earlier today. I'm hoping it's more hype than substance as this could be fairly nasty if it lives up to billing. Can't see too much point in worrying at the moment though, as there aren't enough details release to the mainstream to work on a defence, and supposedly there are no work arounds at the moment.

Think I might start panicking if future developments on this go sour...

Of course every system in the world is fully patched.....