This article was linked off of slashdot this morning .. great read for those wanting a nice detailed explanation of nmap and it’s uses (ethical or otherwise).

From the conclusion:

This should give you a great running start with Nmap. We covered not only what each scan does, but, more importantly, we gave you some valuable insight as to what an ethical hacker should be thinking when scanning. If the bad guys are thinking it, then you should, too. In Part 2 we will discuss all the special options we can add to our Nmap scans to really bring it to a much higher level.

One of the most useful scan types that I use on a regular basis is the RPC scan (-sR) a sample output that one might expect to see from a scan of this type:

It’s labor day .. and here I am laboring away, alone. I’d love to be at home, in bed, dreaming of my own private island, filled with umbrella drinks and bikini women. Instead I’m sitting at my work desk clicking away like a mad man. I hope to have a nice quiet day and work on some of my own projects.

I need to get my mind into study mode, I heard a rumor come down the pipeline that my request for training is going to be approved. Which makes me excited as hell .. since this particular training/certification is important to me and right up my alley. It’s pretty damned expensive, but all online so I don’t have to be bothered with silly classrooms or travel. What is it you might ask? Well my request is for the Snort Certified Professional course. I have a feeling that I am going to have to study for this one … at least just a little. The online course material is broken up into two sections: Building and Operating Snort® v2.6.1.3 and Snort® Rules v2.6.1.3. The exam itself I linked earlier, it consists of 200 multiple choice questions, but it’s a lot like the cisco tests in that it dynamically builds itself based on what you get wrong .. so here’s to not being wrong! I’m a little nervous about it though, since I am asking the company to invest $2k into me for this, I better not disappoint.

Time to get to work .. hahahahahahaha .. yeah .. right. I kill myself sometimes. oh jeez that was a good one.