An anonymous reader writes "Whitedust has an interview with Fyodor, creator of NMAP. The interview covers a broad range of topics from Fyodor's roots and motivations in the security world to his newer projects and even mentions Fyodor's forthcoming book on NMAP network scanning." Interview with NMAP Creator Fyodor Log in/Create an Account | Top | 87 comments | Search Discussion Display Options Threshold: -1: 87 comments 0: 65 comments 1: 46 comments 2: 32 comments 3: 18 comments 4: 16 comments 5: 11 comments Flat Nested No Comments Threaded Oldest First Newest First Highest Scores First Oldest First (Ignore Threads) Newest First (Ignore Threads) The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. Roots and motivations? (Score:5, Funny) by Capt'n Hector (650760) on Monday October 17, @02:15AM (#13807492) (http://harry.blogdns.com/) Could it be that the motivation was... root? [ Reply to ThisRe:Roots and motivations? by mobby_6kl (Score:2) Monday October 17, @04:32AMGo root! by Dogtanian (Score:2) Monday October 17, @06:25AM2 replies beneath your current threshold. Fyodor (Score:5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17, @02:21AM (#13807513) If anyone is wondering what his last name is, 'Fyodor' is a pseudonym (a.k.a. a "handle"). So there is no last name to go with it.This handle was partly inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky, who was perhaps the second greatest writer of all time. [ Reply to This Re:Fyodor (Score:4, Funny) by dirtsurfer (595452) on Monday October 17, @03:05AM (#13807624) (Last Journal: Tuesday January 21, @05:54AM) This handle was partly inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky, who was perhaps the second greatest writer of all time.With the first greatest writer being, of course, Mr. Anonymous Coward [ Reply to This | Parent1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Fyodor by bobintetley (Score:2) Monday October 17, @03:22AMRe:Fyodor by AvitarX (Score:1) Monday October 17, @11:03AMRe:Fyodor by KlomDark (Score:1) Monday October 17, @11:26AMRe:Fyodor by Osty (Score:2) Monday October 17, @03:06AMRe:Fyodor by Philip K Dickhead (Score:2) Monday October 17, @03:25AMRe:Fyodor by tomatensaft (Score:1) Monday October 17, @06:43AMRe:Fyodor by Philip K Dickhead (Score:1) Monday October 17, @04:49PMRe:Fyodor by jackbird (Score:3) Monday October 17, @08:25AMRe:Fyodor by fbg111 (Score:2) Monday October 17, @06:05PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.3 replies beneath your current threshold. real sysadmins... (Score:5, Funny) by weighn (578357) <weighn&gmail,com> on Monday October 17, @02:26AM (#13807524) (http://localhost:5800/) ...forgo those fancy tools and port scan from Vim [ Reply to This Re:real sysadmins... (Score:5, Funny) by bersl2 (689221) on Monday October 17, @02:32AM (#13807545) (Last Journal: Monday October 03, @01:08AM) ...forgo those fancy tools and port scan from Emacs Fixed that for you. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:real sysadmins... by loucura! (Score:2) Monday October 17, @10:24AM3 replies beneath your current threshold.1 reply beneath your current threshold. Fyodor's nmap is a great tool (Score:5, Insightful) by SecureTheNet (915798) on Monday October 17, @02:30AM (#13807536) (http://www.securethe.net/) for network assesment. It's the best free tool out there, and IMHO better than the commercial apps as well. [ Reply to This Obligatory (Score:5, Funny) by Council (514577) <rmunroe@@@gmail...com> on Monday October 17, @02:51AM (#13807580) (http://www.xkcd.com/) I was going to ask what he thought of nmap porn [insecure.org], but then I realized the link I was using was from nmap's own site! Apparently they condone this sort of thing.Come on, Fydor, admit it. Like most of us, you don't really care about coding, you just do it to get girls. [ Reply to ThisNot safe for work alright... by coma_bug (Score:2) Monday October 17, @03:58AMRe:Obligatory by Council (Score:2) Monday October 17, @04:04AMRe:Obligatory by blincoln (Score:3) Monday October 17, @01:09PMRe:Obligatory by Council (Score:2) Monday October 17, @01:21PMhigh res photos and the movie by dobrovik (Score:1) Monday October 17, @09:19PM6 replies beneath your current threshold. Best Fyodor quote (Score:5, Interesting) by LarsWestergren (9033) on Monday October 17, @02:54AM (#13807588) (http://www.smirkingchimp.com/) In the second Matrix film, Trinity uses nmap to find a vulnerability in an old SSH version that she then exploits. Probably the first realistic hacking depiction in a major film. Fyodor said something along the lines of"It was so awesome, my jaw dropped when I saw it in the theaters. A sexy woman uses my program. I think that means we are married." [ Reply to This Actual quote (Score:5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17, @03:19AM (#13807650) You have butchered it quite a bit. What he actually said [seclists.org] was:From: Fyodor Date: Thu, 15 May 2003 02:17:19 -0700Hi Everyone. There is a disturbance in the force! You may recall acouple weeks ago that MS started recommending Nmap on some of theirweb pages. That was strange, but I did not foresee the anomalous omensthat would ensue.Like almost any self-respecting geek, I bought tickets to 'Matrix:Reloaded' several weeks back (no spoilers, I promise). After all, whocan resist the combination of philosophical mind games and Trinity(Carrie-Anne Moss) in that tight leather bodysuit?So after waiting an hour in a line snaking out of the theatre to theparking lot, I finally got in to my 10pm Wednesday showing. All wasgoing well until Trinity needed to do some hacking. Oh, no! I wassure we'd see a silly "Hackers"-esque 3D animated "hacking scene".Not so! Trinity is as smart as she is seductive! She whips outNmap (!!!), scans her target, finds 22/tcp open, and proceeds with anber ssh technique! I was so surprised, I almost jumped out of myseat and did the "r00t dance" right there in the theatre!There can be only one explanation: Carie-Anne has the hots for me![...] [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Actual quote by antdude (Score:2) Monday October 17, @06:04AMRe:Actual quote by LarsWestergren (Score:2) Monday October 17, @09:21AM2 replies beneath your current threshold. Smileys (Score:4, Funny) by arch119 (882281) on Monday October 17, @02:58AM (#13807605) WD> Have you ever been concerned that Nmap is used for blackhat purposes?Fyodor> I doubt that Nmap has ever been used for blackhat purposes. OK, maybe once or twice :). But ... ....I just hope the WD guys didn't interview someone logged in to an IRC channel and claiming himself as being Fyodor..... [ Reply to ThisRe:Smileys by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Monday October 17, @03:12AMRe:Smileys by arch119 (Score:1) Monday October 17, @04:49AM Advance Chapter: Nmap Reference Guide (Score:5, Informative) by fv (95460) * <fyodor@insecure.org> on Monday October 17, @03:08AM (#13807632) (http://www.insecure.org/) The Nmap Network Scanning book isn't yet complete, but I havedecided to release one of the most important chapters in advanceonline. That is this Nmap Reference Guide [insecure.org], which will become the newman page. It is rewritten from scratch to be much more comprehensiveand detailed than the previous version, and better organizedas well. It can be read top to bottom or used as a quick reference to look up that obscure scan type you are considering. Let me know [mailto] if youhave any suggestions for improving it. I'm also looking fortranslators (the previous man page is available in ninelanguages [insecure.org]. If you are interested, send me mail with your targetlanguage. That way I can send you the source file (DocBook XML) totranslate rather than the HTML/Nroff which is auto-generated. Thatwill also prevent the case of several people duplicating effort by translating to the samelanguage. I was planning to announce this tomorrow, but since thebook seems to be mentioned at the top of Slashdot right now anyway, Ijust scrambled to put it up.And now for the goods. Here is the HTML NmapReference Guide [insecure.org]. Or you can download the Nroff (man page) form here [insecure.org]. Enjoy!-Fyodor [insecure.org] [ Reply to ThisRe:Advance Chapter: Nmap Reference Guide by ptarjan (Score:1) Monday October 17, @07:43AMRe:Advance Chapter: Nmap Reference Guide by foorilious (Score:1) Monday October 17, @02:06PM3 replies beneath your current threshold. It mentions the book?!?! (Score:4, Insightful) by andreMA (643885) on Monday October 17, @03:16AM (#13807647) and even mentions Fyodor's forthcoming book on NMAP network scanning. Of course the book has absolutely nothing to do with why he gave the interview.Not that there's anything wrong with pushing a book you've written, but it being mentioned is hardly a surprise. [ Reply to This Thank you, NMAP-developer-like people. (Score:5, Interesting) by Douglas Simmons (628988) on Monday October 17, @04:07AM (#13807764) (http://assambassador.com/) This article takes me back to my slackware days. People ask me how I learned what I know, and the answer is that back in the day I got my hands on nmap and other impressive tools and through wild guess and checking began to conceptualize the whole net thing. Well, to come clean, I'd give out free shells on IRC and ttysnoop other people running nmap to hack my box -- that's how I got started. My point is it didn't come from books, a class or even man pages (that's a given), but toolin' around with the tools epitomized by nmap. Seeing this article touched a nerve in me to say thanks as the readers of this, in my estimation, is a group most densely populated by people who coded wares that got me to wherever I am today, which apparently is a very low-level pron tycoon, who's all about the high res.Thanks. [ Reply to This Question (Score:4, Interesting) by tomstdenis (446163) <tomstdenisNO@SPAMiahu.ca> on Monday October 17, @07:43AM (#13808237) (http://www.imaluser.com/ | Last Journal: Friday February 04, @05:46AM) How do you write a book on NMAP?Is it how the networks operate and how NMAP plays with it? Or is this an NMAP manual? I mean it ain't exactly hard to use. I can't imagine a book on how to use NMAP being more than 50 pages or so...Of course I haven't read any TFA if there is one...Tom [ Reply to This Nmap is bigger than you think... (Score:5, Informative) by networkuptime (923486) <james@networkuptime.com> on Monday October 17, @08:48AM (#13808433) (http://www.networkuptime.com/) I can't imagine a book on how to use NMAP being more than 50 pages or so...That's exactly what I thought when I started writing a short tutorial on nmap. 200 pages later(!), it's a comprehensive guide to the operation and inner-workings of nmap.I've documented, graphically displayed, and captured network traffic for every nmap ping type, scan method, and nmap option. Not every nmap option works exactly the way one might expect, so I've also documented the "gotchas" when using nmap. I also wrote a chapter that outlines some practical uses of nmap for ongoing security needs.I've released the book with a Creative Commons license, and posted the entire book to the web for free! My goal was to give something back to the security community that could be used to make networks more secure and to help network professionals understand what happens when these scans are active on their network.Secrets of Network Cartography: A Comprehensive Guide to nmap is available at:http://www.networkuptime.com/nmap/index.shtml [networkuptime.com] I'm working on the next version now, and I'm open for suggestions and comments. Please let me know what you think!James Messer [ Reply to This | ParentMOD UP by Bootvis (Score:1) Monday October 17, @03:45PM Re:Fyodor is not a heroic "white hat" security exp (Score:2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17, @03:29AM (#13807677) Yeah I think someone else tried to troll this up from the past as well earlier on and it got modded down badly.Perhaps no one cares? Fyodor is a security legend. Deal with it. [ Reply to This | Parent never mind the mod abuse -- read parent links (Score:1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 17, @04:07AM (#13807767) I guess it's clear that certain editors and mods don't want this issue creeping into the discussion, but it's important. It sits at zero despite being relevent and raising disturbing issues surrounding fyodor's legitimacy. [ Reply to This | Parent Re:punny. (Score:4, Funny) by BandwidthHog (257320) <whatwouldbryando@ironicallyenough.com> on Monday October 17, @05:56AM (#13808009) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/thelifeofbryan/ | Last Journal: Sunday October 02, @01:05PM) Done a little too much LDS?Dude, a little bit of Mormon goes a *long* way. [ Reply to This | ParentSpelling it out in in 200pt comic sans by I Like Pudding (Score:1) Monday October 17, @11:30AMRe:Spelling it out in in 200pt comic sans by Ziviyr (Score:1) Monday October 17, @08:06PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Re:Fyodor is not a heroic "white hat" security exp (Score:2) by blincoln (592401) on Monday October 17, @01:15PM (#13810188) (Last Journal: Monday March 22, @12:14AM) I now ask you, gentle sirs and madams, would you use a tool written by a known criminalYes.Next question? [ Reply to This | Parent Re: use a tool written by a known criminal? (Score:1) by Anomalyst (742352) on Monday October 17, @02:25PM (#13810797) This undeserved bashing of MS and BG has got to stop. [ Reply to This | Parent7 replies beneath your current threshold.