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Network Security Toolkit: Setup and Usage
This is the Setup Guide for Network Security Toolkit (NST), a GNU/Linux distribution that boots and runs completely from CD.
Network Security Toolkit (NST) is a
GNU/Linux distribution that boots and runs completely from CD. It
includes recent linux software and desktop environments, with hundreds
of open source network security programs already installed.
Click here to view a video tutorial providing an introduction to Live Linux Distros and how they work.
This makes NST an excellent tool for Windows users, as it allows them to use security tools such as Nessus without having to install any server components to a separate Unix system. It also eliminates the need for installing the associated clients. Everything is self-contained in the NST distribution package. When you’re finished using the software, you can eject the CD, reboot and everything is as it was originally.
The official webpage for this toolkit, including downloads, documentation, FAQs, and a support forum can be found here:
http://www.networksecuritytoolkit.org/nst
Setting Up the Boot CD
Network Security Toolkit is distributed as an .ISO file. The .ISO disc image can be found here:
http://nst.sourceforge.net/1.5.0/index.html
Click on one of the provided links, follow the on screen instructions, if any, and save the .ISO. You will then need to burn the disc image to a CD.
Notes: The disc image is about 400 MB in size so a high speed internet connection is strongly recommended.
Also, Windows XP does not support built-in burning of .ISO images, so you will need to utilize a third party CD burner program such as Nero or Easy CD Creator.Click here for a video tutorial detailing how to burn a Live Linux Distro ISO to CD with Nero.
Once the image has been successfully burned to disc, reboot your computer with the newly created CD in the CD drive.
Note: make sure beforehand that your CD drive is set to bootable in your BIOS settings. Most BIOS should already have this set to default.
Using the Network Security Toolkit
On
startup, NST will autodetect your computer's hardware and will
configure settings. You may customize your boot options by hitting the
spacebar, though this is generally not required.
You will be prompted for a root password. After selecting the root password, you will next see a plain text command line interface, from which you can login and start working with the toolkit.
If you prefer working from a graphical interface, you can start an X Desktop by typingsetup_x
After configuring display options, you can bring up a graphical X Desktop session with the command
startxAdditional documentation for usage of the toolkit, as well as the programs contained on the distribution, can be found here:
http://nst.sourceforge.net/1.5.0/index.html