Kyle makes a good point about the wireless card with a workable chipset.
Depending on the tools (or linux CD), several different types of
wireless cards could be usefully.
Prism2 chipset with the optional external antenna plug are really good.
If you don't want to walk around with a external antenna, then make sure
the card has a internal antenna as well. I use a Cisco Aironet card
something..that were taken from a Cisco AP. It has too plug (because of
the AP antennas), but it not no internal. Just something to watch out
for.
Older Linksys B cards are Prism2. Cisco cards are nice because they
create two interfaces when inserted. One is regular and one is in
Monitor mode.
-Todd
-----Original Message-----
From: Kyle Maxwell [mailto:krmaxwell@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 9:52 AM
To: pen-test@securityfocus.com
Cc: amoeba; dan.berberich@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Penetration Test Hardware Vendor
On 5/12/05, amoeba <amoeba@amoebazone.com> wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Berberich [mailto:dan.berberich@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 4:47 AM
To: pen-test@securityfocus.com
Subject: ISO: Penetration Test Hardware Vendor
All - I'm looking to find if anyone makes specific hardware for
penetration testing. Specifically a laptop. I already
know that the
'more is the better' in configuring a COTS machine, but
I'm looking
to see if anyone makes one already 'tricked-out' so to
say. I'm not
looking for advice on specs, I can pretty much guess that
(ie - as
much RAM and fastest processor as you can squeeze into a
tiny box,
oh and the biggest HD possible, yeah and a 1600x1200 ...).
It sounds like you mean you want a pre-installed OS with
penetration
testing and auditing tools? You may want to look into some of the
security-oriented linux distros which may suit your needs.
They would
provide you with the "tricked-out" tools and, in the case
of the Live
CD distros, wouldn't necessarily need to replace your existing
daily-use OS of choice. Some of the more security-focused
distributions are quite well put together with a full
complement of forensics, pen-test, and auditing tools.
Check out:
http://distrowatch.com/search.php?category=Forensics&origin=All&basedo
n=All& desktop=All&architecture=All&status=Active
Also,
http://biatchux.dmzs.com/ F.I.R.E - the Forensic and
Incident Response
Environment Live CD distro.
For live CDs for pen-testing, Security Focus has a recent article at
http://securityfocus.com/columnists/323 that lists some more.
I think the OP was talking about the hardware itself, though.
Most any laptop will do, though I suggest a wireless card
with a chipset that will work with the tools you want to use.
RAM is useful in general, but I don't know that pen-testing
has particular needs. CPU is nice if you're doing password
cracking. In general, anything that will run your OS of
choice (probably Linux or OpenBSD for this sort of
application) will do what you need. I like Thinkpads because
they've really reliable for me in the past, and the newer
Dells seem to be a lot better, but YMMV.
--
Kyle Maxwell
http://caffeinatedsecurity.com
[krmaxwell@gmail.com]
