Re: Port Scanner Challenge Revisited: Nmap, Unicornscan, Portbunny

["GomoR" <pt () gomor org>]

On Wed, Feb 06, 2008 at 10:27:20PM +0100, Robert E. Lee wrote:
[..]
> The first comparison test was run by someone who didn't understand how        
> to use the tools properly. A comparison test should only be run by            
> someone familiar enough with the tools involved. I am going out of my         
[..] 

I totally agree with that point. This brings the problem of
comparing oranges with apples. I mean, there is basically
two philosophy while creating a tool such as a port scanner,
an OS fingerprinting, or other kind of tools. 

The first philosophy is:
I want my tool to be usable by anybody. All the brain is in
the tool. 

The second one:
I want my tool to help the human. The brain still remains with
the human. 

The first approach brings its own set of implementation
difficulties, like handling all possible topology scenarios. 

The second one does not suffer this problem, but require a
strong understanding of topology scenarios, and how to use
the tool to circumvent them. 

My personal approach is to build tools that help humans,
but not to replace their brains. 

I let readers classify different tools in these two categories. 

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