Security Log

Computerworld - Mazu Updates Net Traffic Analyzer
A newly released version of Mazu Networks Inc.'s Profiler network traffic analysis product can spot unauthorized network activity and track applications that use so-called ephemeral ports, which pose a security risk to companies, says the Cambridge, Mass.-based network security vendor. Mazu Profiler Version 3 is designed to offer improved features for creating use and access policies for a network. It also has improved reporting capabilities for forensic analysis of compromised networks and contains features that enable administrators to track file transfer protocol (FTP) servers that don't rely on a predefined communications port. These ephemeral ports can make FTP applications difficult to track and monitor, Mazu says.
Security Bookshelf
Practical Unix & Internet Security, by Simson Garfield, Gene Spafford and Alan Schwartz; O'Reilly & Associates Inc., 2003.
Written by the team that defined the classic approaches to security, the third edition of this reference covers all the basics, including the latest Internet and Unix security challenges. If you want to be taken seriously as a Unix systems administrator or a power user, then you need to understand and propose solutions to security problems. This comprehensive 1,000-page book provides the background, tools and suggestions from administrators needed to understand Unix and Internet security. The latest edition squeezes in much more information than the second. I particularly liked the detailed coverage of Mac OS X, which I haven't seen anywhere else. It's a worthy update.
-- Vince Tuesday (vince.tuesday@hushmail.com)

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