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Interview with NMAP Creator Fyodor

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the colored-hat dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Whitedust has an interview with Fyodor, creator of NMAP. The interview covers a broad range of topics from Fyodor's roots and motivations in the security world to his newer projects and even mentions Fyodor's forthcoming book on NMAP network scanning."

23 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. Roots and motivations? by Capt'n+Hector · · Score: 5, Funny

    Could it be that the motivation was... root?

    --
    Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
    Africus aut Europaeus?
  2. Fyodor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    If anyone is wondering what his last name is, 'Fyodor' is a pseudonym (a.k.a. a "handle"). So there is no last name to go with it.

    This handle was partly inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky, who was perhaps the second greatest writer of all time.

    1. Re:Fyodor by dirtsurfer · · Score: 4, Funny

      This handle was partly inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky, who was perhaps the second greatest writer of all time.

      With the first greatest writer being, of course, Mr. Anonymous Coward

    2. Re:Fyodor by Osty · · Score: 2, Informative

      The parent erred. The post ment to suggest Fyodor Dostoevsky was possibly the second greatest novelist of all time. This, of course, is also an error, as Miguel de Cervantes was the greatest novelist of all time, followed by Tolstoy, then by Flaubert.

      Or, he was referring to Monkey Island's running gag of, "That's the second biggest [monkey head | duck | arrow | etc] I've ever seen."

      Is it so wrong that Monkey Island was the first thing that came to mind when reading the OP's post?

    3. Re:Fyodor by Philip+K+Dickhead · · Score: 2, Funny

      The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.
      -- Dostoyevski

      So, it seem Fyodor was trying to get out of jail(2) ?

      --
      "Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act." -- George Orwell
    4. Re:Fyodor by jackbird · · Score: 2, Informative
      Or, he was referring to Monkey Island's running gag of, "That's the second biggest [monkey head | duck | arrow | etc] I've ever seen."

      That gag predates Monkey Island by quite a few years. Not that Monkey Island didn't kick ass.

  3. real sysadmins... by weighn · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...forgo those fancy tools and port scan from Vim

    --
    Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
    1. Re:real sysadmins... by bersl2 · · Score: 4, Funny

      ...forgo those fancy tools and port scan from Emacs

      Fixed that for you.

  4. Fyodor's nmap is a great tool by SecureTheNet · · Score: 5, Insightful

    for network assesment. It's the best free tool out there, and IMHO better than the commercial apps as well.

    --
    SecureThe.Net - Practical Resources for Securing Systems
  5. Obligatory by Council · · Score: 5, Funny

    I was going to ask what he thought of nmap porn, but then I realized the link I was using was from nmap's own site! Apparently they condone this sort of thing.

    Come on, Fydor, admit it. Like most of us, you don't really care about coding, you just do it to get girls.

    --
    xkcd.com - a webcomic of mathematics, love, and language.
    1. Re:Obligatory by blincoln · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Watch the video. She's cuter than the stills look.

      More like "it's a video of a rivet-ish girl using nmap while stripping, and all the dorks on Slashdot can say is that she's not hot enough." Why is it that so many computer geeks don't get dates again?

      --
      "...always new atoms but always doing the same dance, remembering what the dance was yesterday." -Richard Feynman
  6. Best Fyodor quote by LarsWestergren · · Score: 4, Interesting

    In the second Matrix film, Trinity uses nmap to find a vulnerability in an old SSH version that she then exploits. Probably the first realistic hacking depiction in a major film. Fyodor said something along the lines of
    "It was so awesome, my jaw dropped when I saw it in the theaters. A sexy woman uses my program. I think that means we are married."

    --

    Being bitter is drinking poison and hoping someone else will die

  7. Smileys by arch119 · · Score: 4, Funny

    WD> Have you ever been concerned that Nmap is used for blackhat purposes?
    Fyodor> I doubt that Nmap has ever been used for blackhat purposes. OK, maybe once or twice :). But ...


    ....I just hope the WD guys didn't interview someone logged in to an IRC channel and claiming himself as being Fyodor.....

  8. Advance Chapter: Nmap Reference Guide by fv · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Nmap Network Scanning book isn't yet complete, but I have decided to release one of the most important chapters in advance online. That is this Nmap Reference Guide, which will become the new man page. It is rewritten from scratch to be much more comprehensive and detailed than the previous version, and better organized as well. It can be read top to bottom or used as a quick reference to look up that obscure scan type you are considering. Let me know if you have any suggestions for improving it. I'm also looking for translators (the previous man page is available in nine languages. If you are interested, send me mail with your target language. That way I can send you the source file (DocBook XML) to translate rather than the HTML/Nroff which is auto-generated. That will also prevent the case of several people duplicating effort by translating to the same language. I was planning to announce this tomorrow, but since the book seems to be mentioned at the top of Slashdot right now anyway, I just scrambled to put it up.

    And now for the goods. Here is the HTML Nmap Reference Guide. Or you can download the Nroff (man page) form here. Enjoy!

    -Fyodor

  9. It mentions the book?!?! by andreMA · · Score: 4, Insightful
    and even mentions Fyodor's forthcoming book on NMAP network scanning.
    Of course the book has absolutely nothing to do with why he gave the interview.

    Not that there's anything wrong with pushing a book you've written, but it being mentioned is hardly a surprise.

  10. Actual quote by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    You have butchered it quite a bit. What he actually said was:

    From: Fyodor
    Date: Thu, 15 May 2003 02:17:19 -0700

    Hi Everyone. There is a disturbance in the force! You may recall a couple weeks ago that MS started recommending Nmap on some of their web pages. That was strange, but I did not foresee the anomalous omens that would ensue.

    Like almost any self-respecting geek, I bought tickets to 'Matrix: Reloaded' several weeks back (no spoilers, I promise). After all, who can resist the combination of philosophical mind games and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) in that tight leather bodysuit?

    So after waiting an hour in a line snaking out of the theatre to the parking lot, I finally got in to my 10pm Wednesday showing. All was going well until Trinity needed to do some hacking. Oh, no! I was sure we'd see a silly "Hackers"-esque 3D animated "hacking scene". Not so! Trinity is as smart as she is seductive! She whips out Nmap (!!!), scans her target, finds 22/tcp open, and proceeds with an ber ssh technique! I was so surprised, I almost jumped out of my seat and did the "r00t dance" right there in the theatre!

    There can be only one explanation: Carie-Anne has the hots for me! [...]

    1. Re:Actual quote by antdude · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Heh, it was quite funny when I went to see the movie with a bunch of geeks who work for a well-known security company. Pretty much the whole theater busted laughing at that scene. It's just weird and cool. :)

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  11. Re:Fyodor is not a heroic "white hat" security exp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Yeah I think someone else tried to troll this up from the past as well earlier on and it got modded down badly.

    Perhaps no one cares? Fyodor is a security legend. Deal with it.

  12. Not safe for work alright... by coma_bug · · Score: 2, Funny

    She has the current working directory in $PATH.

  13. Thank you, NMAP-developer-like people. by Douglas+Simmons · · Score: 4, Interesting
    This article takes me back to my slackware days. People ask me how I learned what I know, and the answer is that back in the day I got my hands on nmap and other impressive tools and through wild guess and checking began to conceptualize the whole net thing. Well, to come clean, I'd give out free shells on IRC and ttysnoop other people running nmap to hack my box -- that's how I got started.

    My point is it didn't come from books, a class or even man pages (that's a given), but toolin' around with the tools epitomized by nmap. Seeing this article touched a nerve in me to say thanks as the readers of this, in my estimation, is a group most densely populated by people who coded wares that got me to wherever I am today, which apparently is a very low-level pron tycoon, who's all about the high res.

    Thanks.

  14. Re:punny. by BandwidthHog · · Score: 4, Funny

    Done a little too much LDS?

    Dude, a little bit of Mormon goes a *long* way.

    --

    Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
  15. Question by tomstdenis · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How do you write a book on NMAP?

    Is it how the networks operate and how NMAP plays with it? Or is this an NMAP manual? I mean it ain't exactly hard to use. I can't imagine a book on how to use NMAP being more than 50 pages or so...

    Of course I haven't read any TFA if there is one...

    Tom

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  16. Nmap is bigger than you think... by networkuptime · · Score: 5, Informative
    I can't imagine a book on how to use NMAP being more than 50 pages or so...

    That's exactly what I thought when I started writing a short tutorial on nmap. 200 pages later(!), it's a comprehensive guide to the operation and inner-workings of nmap.

    I've documented, graphically displayed, and captured network traffic for every nmap ping type, scan method, and nmap option. Not every nmap option works exactly the way one might expect, so I've also documented the "gotchas" when using nmap. I also wrote a chapter that outlines some practical uses of nmap for ongoing security needs.

    I've released the book with a Creative Commons license, and posted the entire book to the web for free! My goal was to give something back to the security community that could be used to make networks more secure and to help network professionals understand what happens when these scans are active on their network.

    Secrets of Network Cartography: A Comprehensive Guide to nmap is available at:

    http://www.networkuptime.com/nmap/index.shtml

    I'm working on the next version now, and I'm open for suggestions and comments. Please let me know what you think!

    James Messer