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Java 8 - Lazy argument evaluation

Overview “I will always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job. Because he will find an easy way to do it” – Bill Gates Lazy evaluation is an evaluation strategy which delays the evaluation of an expression until its value is needed. The opposite of this is eager evaluation, where an expression is evaluated as soon as it is bound to a variable.] Like most imperative programming l

5 min Intrusion Detection

The Pros & Cons of Intrusion Detection Systems

Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) A network intrusion detection system (NIDS) can be an integral part of an organization’s security, but they are just one aspect of many in a cohesive and safe system. They have many great applications, but there are also weaknesses that need to be considered. It is important to compare an NIDS against the alternatives, as well as to understand the best ways to implement them. What Is an Intrusion Detection System? Intrusion detection systems

6 min Automation and Orchestration

How to Install Snort NIDS on Ubuntu Linux

Synopsis Security is a major issue in today’s enterprise environments. There are lots of tools available to secure network infrastructure and communication over the internet. Snort is a free and open source lightweight network intrusion detection and prevention system. Snort is the most widely-used NIDS (Network Intrusion and Detection System) that detects and prevent intrusions by searching protocol, content analysis, and various pre-processors. Snort provides a wealth of features, like buffer

3 min Automation and Orchestration

Introduction to Incident Response Life Cycle of NIST SP 800-61

Synopsis In the series of blog posts titled “Incident Response Life Cycle in NIST and ISO standards” we review incident response life cycle, as defined and described in NIST and ISO standards related to incident management. In previous article in this series we reviewed NIST’s approach to incident response team and explained how security automation can help mitigate issues related to building a

4 min Automation and Orchestration

Recommendations for Incident Response Team included in NIST Special Publication 800-61

Synopsis We are starting series of blog posts: “Incident Response Life Cycle in NIST and ISO standards”. In this series we will review incident response life cycle, as defined and described in NIST and ISO standards related to incident management. In the first post in this series, we introduce these standards and discuss NIST’s approach to incident response team. Introduction NIST and ISO standards are excellent tools that can help organize and manage security incident management in any organi

3 min Automation and Orchestration

Understanding Access Control Lists

Synopsis When it comes to the security regarding routers, switches or on the basic ISP layers, we talk about ACLs. They are generally used to control/manage the inbound and outbound traffic. In this blog, we will be looking into basic configuration of standard IP ACLs also known as Access Lists or in some cases filters. Understanding ACL Access Control List as the name suggests is a list that grants or denies permission

7 min Komand

10 Ways to Make Your Security Posture More Proactive

In a perfect world, security teams have everything they need to defend against the complex cybersecurity threat landscape: an enviable team of security pros, sophisticated detection and prevention processes, and intelligent alerting and reporting tools. But in reality, most teams and security operations centers find themselves struggling to keep pace. And whether it’s from an imbalance in people, process, and technology, or a data utilization problem, security teams end up in a reactive state:

2 min Metasploit

Metasploitable3 CTF Results and Wrap-Up

The Metasploitable3 CTF competition has wrapped up and we have our winners! We had almost 300 flag submissions from more than 50 fine folks. There were some really great right-ups submitted with great details on how flags were found. Thanks to everyone who took time to submit a finding! ON TO THE RESULTS! When we announced the competition, we didn't specify if team submissions were allowed or not.

4 min Haxmas

12 Days of HaXmas: Year-End Policy Comment Roundup

Merry HaXmas to you! Each year we mark the 12 Days of HaXmas with 12 blog posts on hacking-related topics and roundups from the year. This year, we're highlighting some of the “gifts” we want to give back to the community. And while these gifts may not come wrapped with a bow, we hope you enjoy them. On the seventh day of Haxmas, the Cyber gave to me: a list of seven Rapid7 comments to government policy proposals! Oh, tis a magical season. It was an ac

8 min Haxmas

12 Days of HaXmas: A HaxMas Carol

(A Story by Rapid7 Labs) Merry HaXmas to you! Each year we mark the 12 Days of HaXmas with 12 blog posts on hacking-related topics and roundups from the year. This year, we're highlighting some of the “gifts” we want to give back to the community. And while these gifts may not come wrapped with a bow, we hope you enjoy them. Happy Holi-data from Rapid7 Labs! It's been a big year for the Rapid7 elves Labs team. Our nigh 200-node strong Heisenberg Cloud

3 min Nexpose

macOS Agent in Nexpose Now

As we look back on a super 2016, it would be easy to rest on one's laurels and wax poetic on the halcyon days of the past year. But at Rapid7 the winter holidays are no excuse for slowing down: The macOS Rapid7 Insight Agent is now available within Nexpose Now. Live Monitoring for macOS Earlier this year, we introduced Live Monitoring for Endpoints with the release of a Windows agent for use with Nexpose Now. The feedback from the Community has been great (and lively!) and now we're back with a

4 min IT Ops

Logs To Understand User Activity and Behavior

Logging user activity is a great way to understand what users are doing, and how they are using network and computing resources. Collecting data from the standpoint of a user identity or login is a great way to correlate all kinds of information, too, including client or workstation activity, network and server access, and application usage. This provides a unique opportunity to make use of Logentries’

4 min InsightIDR

12 Days of HaXmas: Designing Information Security Applications Your Way

Merry HaXmas to you! Each year we mark the 12 Days of HaXmas with 12 days of blog posts on hacking-related topics and roundups from the year. This year, we're highlighting some of the “gifts” we want to give back to the community. And while these gifts may not come wrapped with a bow, we hope you enjoy them. Are you a busy Information Security professional that prefers bloated web applications, fancy interactions, unnecessary visuals, and overloaded scr

6 min IoT

12 Days of HaXmas: 2016 IoT Research Recap

Merry HaXmas to you! Each year we mark the 12 Days of HaXmas with 12 blog posts on hacking-related topics and roundups from the year. This year, we're highlighting some of the “gifts” we want to give back to the community. And while these gifts may not come wrapped with a bow, we hope you enjoy them. As we close out the end of the year, I find it important to reflect on the IoT vulnerability research conducted during 2016 and what we learned from it. Th

5 min Haxmas

12 Days of HaXmas: The One Present This Data Scientist Wants This Holiday Season

Merry HaXmas to you! Each year we mark the 12 Days of HaXmas with 12 blog posts on hacking-related topics and roundups from the year. This year, we're highlighting some of the “gifts” we want to give back to the community. And while these gifts may not come wrapped with a bow, we hope you enjoy them. > “May you have all the data you need to answer your questions – and may half of the values be corrupted!” > - Ancient Yiddish curse This year, Christm