Nsc Attacks Test

This test reports statistics pertaining to the attack attempts made on the Netscreen Firewall device.

Target of the test : A Juniper Netscreen SSG Firewall

Agent deploying the test : An external agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the Netscreen firewall being managed.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The IP address of the firewall device for which this test is to be configured.

Port

The port at which the specified firewall device listens.

SNMPPort

The port at which the monitored target exposes its SNMP MIB; The default value is 161.

SNMPVersion

By default, the eG agent supports SNMP version 1. Accordingly, the default selection in the SNMPversion list is v1. However, if a different SNMP framework is in use in your environment, say SNMP v2 or v3, then select the corresponding option from this list.

SNMPCommunity

The SNMP community name that the test uses to communicate with the firewall. This parameter is specific to SNMP v1 and v2 only. Therefore, if the SNMPVersion chosen is v3, then this parameter will not appear.

UserName

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. SNMP version 3 (SNMPv3) is an extensible SNMP Framework which supplements the SNMPv2 Framework, by additionally supporting message security, access control, and remote SNMP configuration capabilities. To extract performance statistics from the MIB using the highly secure SNMP v3 protocol, the eG agent has to be configured with the required access privileges – in other words, the eG agent should connect to the MIB using the credentials of a user with access permissions to be MIB. Therefore, specify the name of such a user against this parameter. 

Context

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. An SNMP context is a collection of management information accessible by an SNMP entity. An item of management information may exist in more than one context and an SNMP entity potentially has access to many contexts. A context is identified by the SNMPEngineID value of the entity hosting the management information (also called a contextEngineID) and a context name that identifies the specific context (also called a contextName). If the Username provided is associated with a context name, then the eG agent will be able to poll the MIB and collect metrics only if it is configured with the context name as well. In such cases therefore, specify the context name of the Username in the Context text box.  By default, this parameter is set to none.

AuthPass

Specify the password that corresponds to the above-mentioned Username. This parameter once again appears only if the SNMPversion selected is v3.

Confirm Password

Confirm the AuthPass by retyping it here.

AuthType

This parameter too appears only if v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. From the AuthType list box, choose the authentication algorithm using which SNMP v3 converts the specified username and password into a 32-bit format to ensure security of SNMP transactions. You can choose between the following options:

  • MD5 - Message Digest Algorithm
  • SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm
  • SHA224 - Secure Hash Algorithm 224 bit
  • SHA256 - Secure Hash Algorithm 256 bit
  • SHA384 - Secure Hash Algorithm 384 bit
  • SHA512 - Secure Hash Algorithm 512 bit

EncryptFlag

This flag appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. By default, the eG agent does not encrypt SNMP requests. Accordingly, the this flag is set to No by default. To ensure that SNMP requests sent by the eG agent are encrypted, select the Yes option. 

EncryptType

If the EncryptFlag is set to Yes, then you will have to mention the encryption type by selecting an option from the EncryptType list. SNMP v3 supports the following encryption types:

  • DES - Data Encryption Standard
  • 3DES - Triple Data Encryption Standard
  • AES - Advanced Encryption Standard
  • AES128 - Advanced Encryption Standard 128 bit
  • AES192 - Advanced Encryption Standard 192 bit
  • AES256 - Advanced Encryption Standard 256 bit

EncryptPassword

Specify the encryption password here.

Confirm Password

Confirm the encryption password by retyping it here.

Timeout

Specify the duration (in seconds) within which the SNMP query executed by this test should time out in this text box. The default is 10 seconds.

Data Over TCP

By default, in an IT environment, all data transmission occurs over UDP. Some environments however, may be specifically configured to offload a fraction of the data traffic – for instance, certain types of data traffic or traffic pertaining to specific components – to other protocols like TCP, so as to prevent UDP overloads. In such environments, you can instruct the eG agent to conduct the SNMP data traffic related to the monitored target over TCP (and not UDP). For this, set this flag to Yes. By default, this flag is set to No.

Engine ID

This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. Sometimes, the test may not report metrics when AES192 or AES256 is chosen as the Encryption type. To ensure that the test report metrics consistently, administrators need to set this flag to Yes. By default, this parameter is set to No.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Syn attacks

A SYN attack involves a system sending hundreds of requests to a server on the Internet. This measure reveals the number of syn attacks on the Netscreen firewall during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Tear drop attacks

If the attacker's IP puts a confusing value in the offset of the packet fragment, such that the packet cannot be reassembled properly, then such an attack is termed as a Tear drop attack. This measure reports the number of tear drop attacks on the Netscreen firewall during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Source route attacks

Source route option attacks are attacks that occur when the sender sends the route for the packets to travel to the destination memory. This measure reveals the number of source route option attacks on the firewall during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Ping of death attacks

If the attacker sends an IP packet larger than 65536 bytes due to which the system crashes, then such an attack can be called a ping death attack. This measure reports the number of such attacks during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Address spoof attacks

If the IP address is spoofed when systems are attacked, then it becomes an address spoof attack. This measure reveals the number of address spoof attacks that were encountered by the firewall during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Land attacks

A Land attack is a remote denial-of-service condition caused by sending a packet to a machine with the source host/port the same as the destination host/port. This measure indicates the number of land attacks on the Netscreen firewall device during the last measurement period.

Number

 

ICMP flood attacks

An ICMP flood occurs when ICMP pings overload a system with so many echo requests that the system expends all its resources responding until it can no longer process valid network traffic. This measure indicates the number of ICMP flood attacks on the firewall during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Udp flood attacks

UDP flooding occurs when UDP packets are sent with the purpose of slowing down the system to the point that it can no longer handle valid connections. This measure reports a count of such attacks during the last measurement period.

Number

 

Netbios attacks

Netbios is an interface between the PC operating system, I/O bus and network. Name resolution, file and print sharing (SMB), netbios browsing and logon are its activities. This measure reveals the number of weird Netbios attacks during the last measurement period.

Number

Attacks related to NETBIOS network: If port 139 is open, files are shared over the network. Other components of NETBIOS can expose one's computer name, workgroup, user name and other information. One can use 'nbtstat' to enumerate a network by listing NETBIOS names tables and sessions as a prelude to further penetration.

Port scan attacks

A port scan attack is where an IP sends packets to different ports of the same destination IP, so that atleast one service could be identified as target of the attack. This measure indicates the number of port scan attacks that occurred during the last measurement period.

Number

 

IP sweep attacks

A sweep attack is where a range of IP addresses are scanned to show which IP addresses are in use. This measure indicates the number of such sweep attacks during the last measurement period.

Number