Hailstorm Protocol Modeler 3.06, $25,000. Cenzic, (408) 626-9004. www.cenzic.com
Patrick Mueller is a senior security analyst for Chicago-based security consultancy Neohapsis. Write to him at [email protected].
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Clearly, Cenzic Hailstorm Protocol Modeler's $25,000 price will put it out of reach of most small to midsize organizations. But if you have the cash, gather potential users, show them this article, and observe their reactions. If they gush about specific tests they'd love to run against an application and marvel at how much time such a tool could save them, ask for a demo. If their eyes glaze over or they want to know how many step-by-step wizards come bundled, keep moving.
Say you decide you want to buy. Making a case to the business office could be tricky. Driving the tool will require a high-level analyst with a deep understanding of networking protocols, attack methodologies and secure programming practices. This security ninja will have the chance to execute these precise and deadly moves only if tasked with application and/or network-device testing. In many organizations, such testing is left to third-party security consulting companies specializing in application blackboxing, code auditing and network-device fault testing. However, if you have the time, the mandate and the skills to do this type of work in-house, Protocol Modeler will save you money quickly compared with the cost of contracting security houses each time you need a test performed.
Hailstorm Protocol Modeler's requirements are pretty basic: a beefy, but not killer, Windows machine with at least one NIC. We recommend using standard, well-supported hardware (including that NIC) in case you run into problems, as we did. This lets you rule out hardware problems quickly.
You'll need to create a segmented test network, if you don't already have one, before you let Protocol Modeler hurl packets. Don't even think about deploying this product on a production network. Critical applications crash at the mere mention of the program being connected to their segments. Not only are most of Protocol Modeler's tests designed to produce fatal run-time faults in OSs, network devices and applications, but sometimes a test will do something slightly different from what the operator intended.
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