All Posts

3 min InsightIDR

How to Troubleshoot Slow Network Issues With Network Traffic Analysis

In this blog, we discuss how to troubleshoot slow network issues with Network Traffic Analysis.

3 min Project Sonar

The Internet of Gas Station Tank Gauges -- Final Take?

In early 2015, HD Moore performed one of the first publicly accessible research related to Internet-connected gas station tank gauges, The Internet of Gas Station Tank Gauges . Later that same year, I did a follow-up study that probed a little deeper in The Internet of Gas Station Tank Gauges — Take #2 . As part of that study, we were attempting to see if the exposure of these devic

3 min Incident Detection

Introspective Intelligence: Understanding Detection Techniques

To provide insight into the methods devised by Rapid7, we'll need to revisit the detection methods implemented across InfoSec products and services and how we apply data differently. Rapid7 gathers volumes of threat intelligence on a daily basis - from new penetration testing tools, tactics, and procedures in Metasploit, vulnerability detections in Nexpose, and user behavior anomalies in InsightIDR. By continuously generating, refining and applying threat intelligence, we enable more robust dete

1 min Automation and Orchestration

A Guide on Security Automation Best Practices

Ask three different security teams what is holding them back from faster time-to-response and chances are you’ll get three different answers: 1. Manual, time-intensive processes 2. Lack of integrated tools 3. Lack of development resources All of these problems exist across both big and small companies in any industry, from healthcare to finance to e-commerce. But in a digital world where attacks are both prevalent and pervasive, defenders always need to be a step (if not two) ahead. This i

6 min Research

The Data Science Process at Rapid7

Data Science is more than just math. A successful Data Science team and successful Data Science projects require relationships with outside teams, clear communication, as well as good decision making, problem solving and critical thinking abilities. Thus, when we talk about Data Science at Rapid7, we talk about the Data Science Process our teams use to take a Data Science project from inception to completion, where math and analysis are important, but not the only aspects of the project. What a

4 min Metasploit

Metasploitable3: An Intentionally Vulnerable Machine for Exploit Testing

Test Your Might With The Shiny New Metasploitable3 Today I am excited to announce the debut of our shiny new toy - Metasploitable3 . Metasploitable3 is a free virtual machine that allows you to simulate attacks largely using Metasploit . It has been used by people in the security industry for a variety of reasons: such as training for network exploitation, exploit development, software testing, techn

4 min Vulnerability Disclosure

R7-2016-24, OpenNMS Stored XSS via SNMP (CVE-2016-6555, CVE-2016-6556)

Stored server cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in the web application component of OpenNMS via the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). Authentication is not required to exploit. Credit This issue was discovered by independent researcher Matthew Kienow , and reported by Rapid7. Products Affected The following versions were tested and successfully exploited: * OpenNMS version 18.0.0 * OpenNMS version 18.0.1 Ope

4 min IT Ops

Goodbye to the VCR: Rewinding Down Memory Lane

The VHS tape was a thing of a magic that is alien in the world of on-demand media.  It represented a promise of entertainment. A promise only realized when loading the tape into the player and pressing the play button. There was an air of excitement around every video, and you could never be entirely certain about what the video contained. I was reminded of the mystique of the VCR just this month when I read about its final demise.  Funai Electric, the last major manufacturer of VCR players,

6 min Rapid7 Perspective

Conflicting perspectives on the TLS 1.3 Draft

In the security industry, as in much of life, a problem we often face is that of balance. We are challenged with finding the balance between an organization's operational needs and the level of security that can be implemented. In many situations an acceptable, if less than optimal, solution can be found but there are cases where this balance cannot be achieved. I recently saw a case of this on the mailing list of the IETF

5 min CIS Controls

Using CIS Controls To Stop Your Network From Falling in With the Wrong Crowd

Earlier this month Kyle Flaherty wrote a post on the Rapid7 Community Blog about how Rapid7 came out on top for coverage of the Center for Internet Security (CIS) Top 20 Security Controls . In light of recent DDoS events I'd like to take a little time to discuss at a high level what the controls are, how they would help, and what organizations can do to improve th

9 min Project Sonar

Project Sonar Study of LDAP on the Internet

The topic of today's post is a Rapid7 Project Sonar study of publicly accessible LDAP services on the Internet. This research effort was started in July of this year and various portions of it continue today.  In light of the Shadowserver Foundations's recent announcement regarding the availability relevant reports we thought it would be a good time to make some of our results public. The study was originally intended to be a

3 min Nexpose

Patch Tuesday, November 2016

November continues a long running trend with Microsoft's products where the majority of bulletins (7) address remote code execution (RCE), closely followed by elevation of privilege (6) and security feature bypass (1). All of this month's critical bulletins are remote code execution vulnerabilities, affecting a variety of products and platforms including Edge, Internet Explorer, Exchange, Microsoft Office, Office Services and

3 min Project Lorelei

Election Day: Tracking the Mirai Botnet

by Bob Rudis , Tod Beardsley , Derek Abdine & Rapid7 Labs Team What do I need to know? Over the last several days, the traffic generated by the Mirai family of botnets has changed. We've been tracking the ramp-up and draw-down patterns of Mirai botnet members and have seen the peaks associated with each reported large scale and micro attack since the DDoS attack against Dyn, Inc. We've tracked over 360,000 uniqu

4 min Komand

The 5 Security Processes That Should Be Automated

According to CSO Online, the average time it takes a security team of a mid-sized company to respond to a successful attack is 46 days . This includes time spent manually investigating the incident, analyzing the data, jumping between unintegrated systems during triage, and coordinating the response. And while there are many reasons for slow incident response times, manu

4 min Automation and Orchestration

How to Use OpenVAS to Audit the Security of Your Network (1/2)

Synopsis The Open Vulnerability Assessment System (OpenVAS), is a Free/Libre software product that can be used to audit the security of an internal corporate network and find vulnerabilities in a free and automated fashion. It is a competitor to the well known Nessus vulnerability scanning tool. Analyzing the results from tools like Nessus or OpenVAS is an excellent first step for an IT security team working to c