Book Image

Nmap Network Exploration and Security Auditing Cookbook, Third Edition - Third Edition

By : Paulino Calderon
Book Image

Nmap Network Exploration and Security Auditing Cookbook, Third Edition - Third Edition

By: Paulino Calderon

Overview of this book

Nmap is one of the most powerful tools for network discovery and security auditing used by millions of IT professionals, from system administrators to cybersecurity specialists. This third edition of the Nmap: Network Exploration and Security Auditing Cookbook introduces Nmap and its family - Ncat, Ncrack, Ndiff, Zenmap, and the Nmap Scripting Engine (NSE) - and guides you through numerous tasks that are relevant to security engineers in today’s technology ecosystems. The book discusses some of the most common and useful tasks for scanning hosts, networks, applications, mainframes, Unix and Windows environments, and ICS/SCADA systems. Advanced Nmap users can benefit from this book by exploring the hidden functionalities within Nmap and its scripts as well as advanced workflows and configurations to fine-tune their scans. Seasoned users will find new applications and third-party tools that can help them manage scans and even start developing their own NSE scripts. Practical examples featured in a cookbook format make this book perfect for quickly remembering Nmap options, scripts and arguments, and more. By the end of this Nmap book, you will be able to successfully scan numerous hosts, exploit vulnerable areas, and gather valuable information.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
Appendix A: HTTP, HTTP Pipelining, and Web Crawling Configuration Options
Appendix Β: Brute-Force Password Auditing Options
Appendix F: References and Additional Reading

Chapter 2: Getting Familiar with Nmap's Family

As new functionalities were added to Nmap, new tools were written and incorporated into the Nmap family as sub-projects, such as Ndiff, Ncat, Ncrack, Zenmap, Nping, and even the Nmap Scripting Engine itself, to complement and extend the coverage of network-related tasks. These sub-projects were introduced throughout the years of the Nmap project participating in the Google Summer of Code program and they have become invaluable for the community as they serve specific needs.

This chapter will serve as an introduction to those who are unfamiliar with all the tools from the Nmap family and it will also show practical usage examples to those who know them but don't really use them. In this chapter, we will cover the following recipes:

  • Monitoring servers remotely with Nmap and Ndiff
  • Crafting ICMP echo replies with Nping
  • Managing multiple scanning profiles with Zenmap
  • Running Lua scripts against a network connection with Ncat
  • Discovering systems with weak passwords with Ncrack
  • Using Ncat to diagnose a network client
  • Defending against Nmap service detection scans