Network mapper, popularly known as its command interpretation nmap, is one of the most handy free and open source tools among both the admin and geek communities.
Gordon Lyon has wrote this invaluable piece of network reckoning software back in the 90s-- yes that good old 90s of hacker culture. It has also been showed off in around dozens of hardcore hacker movies including that of my alltime personal favourite Matrix Trilogy.
The powerful tool is dubbed as a Swiss Army Knife, network hacker’s scalpel or দশভুজা among other nicknames due to the versatility and flexibility.
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| An nmap propaganda gif |
I have to monitor and troubleshoot my small home Local Area Network regularly for various issues like speed, connectivity, security and above all curiosity– as well as I do often play and mess up with them. Nmap, for this reason, is one of my handy favourites.
Although I would prefer Philippe Biondi’s Scapy, a powerful Python library for network geeks, in a playful, geeky mood for manipulating and forging network packets.
Although I would prefer Philippe Biondi’s Scapy, a powerful Python library for network geeks, in a playful, geeky mood for manipulating and forging network packets.
Due to frequent use of nmap, I’ve developed a small interactive bash script for scanning the LAN with frequently used commands. Note that this script only glues the basic commands.
Screenshots of the script:
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| Yap, I've not changed the default ssh port..... |
In the first run I've scanned my whole LAN and found the live hosts with their IP and MAC.
In second run I've scanned the raspberry pi and found that the device is being used as a torrent box and the user, who is me, uses the device with ssh --- which is this might be a headless box.
The nmap documentation project is enlightening and details how do different network protocols work under the hood. So, this might be a good resource for network geeks as well as systems administrators.
Nmap in true sense is a versatile network tool that can be used as a harpoon, shuriken, samurai, kusarigama, hi-tech sniper rifle or a combination of all of them at a time but it needs indeed– expert minds and a deep understanding of how network works under the hood.
Customising and gluing execution of one or more pieces of software is one of the pros of using *nix-based operating systems.
The practice of sharing these codes also establishes a strong interaction between like minded FOSS enthusiasts around the globe.
In second run I've scanned the raspberry pi and found that the device is being used as a torrent box and the user, who is me, uses the device with ssh --- which is this might be a headless box.
The nmap documentation project is enlightening and details how do different network protocols work under the hood. So, this might be a good resource for network geeks as well as systems administrators.
Nmap in true sense is a versatile network tool that can be used as a harpoon, shuriken, samurai, kusarigama, hi-tech sniper rifle or a combination of all of them at a time but it needs indeed– expert minds and a deep understanding of how network works under the hood.
Customising and gluing execution of one or more pieces of software is one of the pros of using *nix-based operating systems.
The practice of sharing these codes also establishes a strong interaction between like minded FOSS enthusiasts around the globe.
In the next installment I would write how to build a simple Intrusion Detection System gluing nmap and systemd.
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| Another propaganda sticker |
Till then--- stay cool, keep hacking and love FOSS .........
Regards,
Faquir Foysol
A 90s script kiddie works with Pishach and curates Project Xanadu.
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