THE WHATIS.COM WORD-OF-THE-DAY September 29, 2003 penetration testing
________________ SPONSORED BY: CA Unicenter(R) infrastructure management software INFRASTRUCTURE SELF-MANAGEMENT Unicenter infrastructure management software from CA enables your infrastructure to manage itself, enabling IT managers to focus more on the business of business - and not the business of maintenance. Unicenter ensures that your IT is always in sync with your business, so you can be more responsive than ever to a constantly changing marketplace. http://WhatIs.com/r/0,,18899,00.htm?ca ________________ TODAY'S WORD: penetration testing See our complete definition with hyperlinks at http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci929671,00.html Penetration testing (also known as intrusion detection and red teaming) is security-oriented probing of a computer system or network to seek out vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit. The testing process involves an exploration of the all security features of the system in question, followed by an attempt to breech security and penetrate the system. The tester, sometimes known as an ethical hacker, generally uses the same methods and tools as a real attacker. Afterwards, the penetration testers report on the vulnerabilities and suggest steps that should be taken to make the system more secure. In his article "Knockin' At Your Backdoor," security expert Thomas Rude lists some of the system components that an ethical hacker might explore: areas that could be compromised in the demilitarized zone (DMZ); the possibility of getting into the intranet; the PBX (the enterprise's internal telephone system); and the database. According to Rude, this is far from an exhaustive list, however, because the main criterion for testing is value: if an element of your system is worthy of safe-keeping, its security should be tested regularly. ______________________ RELATED TERMS: intrusion detection http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid14_gci295031,00.html demilitarized zone http://searchwebservices.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid26_gci213891,00.html intranet http://searchwebservices.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid26_gci212377,00.html PBX http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci214278,00.html database http://searchdatabase.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid13_gci211895,00.html ______________________ SELECTED LINKS: SearchSecurity provides a white paper, "An Overview of Network Security Analysis and Penetration Testing." http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/whitepaper/1,289194,sid14_gci814127,00.html Reston Communications offers a detailed explanation of penetration testing. http://www.reston.com/nasa/internet/jsc.penetration.html Thomas Rude's article, "Knockin' At Your Backdoor" is available on his Web site. http://www.crazytrain.com/penetration.html ______________________ TODAY'S TECH NEWS: SAP PROS RATE SUPPORT, SEEK UPGRADE ADVICE IT pros attending this week's SearchSAP.com user conference have concerns and questions about SAP technology, upgrade and support plans. Does SAP have answers for them? http://searchsap.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid21_gci929583,00.html SECOND JUDGE CRIPPLES 'DO NOT CALL' LIST Congress acted with stunning speed to close the legal loophole that caused a judge to block the rollout of a national "do not call" registry. Now a second judge has put the registry on hold. http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid11_gci929596,00.html REGIONAL DISASTERS PROMPT NEW REDUNDANCY PLANS As enterprises grow more concerned about regional disasters, they are developing new ways to keep key data and applications available in times of trouble. Some firms are moving data centers further away or outsourcing, but others are turning remote offices into in-house data centers on the cheap. http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid7_gci929538,00.html >> Catch up on all the latest IT news at http://searchtechtarget.techtarget.com/ _____________________ QUIZ: DO YOU SPEAK GEEK? | Routers Are you a real know-IT-all? How many router-related terms can you guess without peeking? >> Click here http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid19_gci928703,00.html _____________________ WHATIS.COM POLL | Offshore outsourcing Do you think the government should take steps to control offshore outsourcing? Vote in our poll to let us know what you think about this controversial issue. >> Vote now! http://whatis.techtarget.com/poll/1,289525,sid9,00.html ______________________________ RECENT ADDITIONS AND UPDATES [1] beaming http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid40_gci929540,00.html [2] WiMAX http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid40_gci929334,00.html [3] horizontal scalability http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid19_gci929011,00.html [4] Words-to-Go glossary: outsourcing http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid19_gci928601,00.html [5] ICT http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci928405,00.html ________________ SPONSORED BY: Sponsored by Microsoft The Quick Guide to Windows Server 2003. Get the latest information on installation, new features and training. Click here! http://WhatIs.com/r/0,,18806,00.htm?microsoft ____________________________________________________________________ ::::::::::::::::::: WHATIS.COM CONTACTS ::::::::::::::::::: LOWELL THING, Site Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) MARGARET ROUSE, Associate Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) IVY WIGMORE, Assistant Editor ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) ::::::::::::::::::::: ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER :::::::::::::::::::::: This newsletter is published by TechTarget, the most targeted IT media. http://www.techtarget.com Copyright 2003 TechTarget. All rights reserved. ____________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from "Word of the Day": Reply to this e-mail with REMOVE in the Subject line - OR - Go to unsubscribe: http://WhatIs.com/u?cid=469184 Please note, unsubscribe requests may take up to 24 hours to process; you may receive additional mailings during that time. A confirmation e-mail will be sent when your request has been successfully processed.
