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February 10, 2010
Codenomicon Releases Free Fuzzing Tool to Probe for Security Vulnerabilities
By Mini Swamy
TMCnet Contributor
Codenomicon, a company involved in the development of security and quality testing software, has released a new “free fuzzing tool” that probes security vulnerabilities before critical products or services are actually deployed.
Fuzzing helps identify common errors and potential vulnerabilities. It’s a software testing technique that provides unexpected or random data to inputs of a program. Malformed inputs via external interfaces trigger defects. Software testers and developers use fuzzing because it’s quick and cost effective.
Officials at Codenomicon (News - Alert) say they’re offering everyone a chance to test the FTP test suite free of charge, to allow users to carry out fuzz-testing in their own test environment. The tool is intended to be used for schools and universities, for educational purposes.
In the past, Codenomicon has resorted to the same strategy in order to create an awareness of the vulnerabilities existing within information security.
A new generation testing platform called DEFENSICS 3 was released in May 2008, and the company says that new versions are available for most of the tools. In deciding to offer free licenses for its older tools, Codenomicon has endeavored to contribute something to the community.
FTP, which is a protocol used in file transfer over the Internet, has continued to make its importance felt in various different networks. The fact that it provides an easy-to-setup target for anyone who wants to learn more about fuzzing is one of the main reasons that FTP was a choice for the first free release.
The widely acclaimed PROTOS project, in which the founding members of the company participated, was part of the OUSPG university research program. Tools which were developed during the project are very popular among professional testers and they are also freely available online.
Open source projects were also allowed free use of tools by Codenomicon, under its CROSS-initiative for over two years.
While advocating the use of responsible disclosure with any security vulnerabilities that may be identified, the company has requested that the local CERT or CERT-FL be contacted when a potential security problem surfaces while using the fuzzing tool.
Codenomicon's free FTP tool is available for testing after securing a free license. Information regarding CERT-FI vulnerability coordination is also available.
Codenomicon has certainly adopted a unique and targeted approach to the fuzz-testing of both networked and mobile applications. Perhaps, no other testing platform or methodology has been quite as successful in exposing flaws and vulnerabilities.
Mini Swamy is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by Michael Dinan
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