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On Wednesday 18 January 2006 08:58 am, Douglas Breault Jr wrote: |
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> Hello, |
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Hello! |
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|
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> I am being forced to run software on my computer that I do not |
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> inherently trust. It is supposed to collect a few pieces of information, |
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> mainly my mac addresses and use the network. It is a one-time use CSA |
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> (client security agent). It uses a csh script to unpack a "proprietary |
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> binary" that we cannot see the source. There is no assurance it doesn't |
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> collect other information or change anything on my computer. |
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If I were in your shoes I would begin a forensic analysis. You may use the |
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commands strings and objdump against a binary executable, but if they are |
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serious, these may allude you. As well, if you can run the program freely or |
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in a sandbox of some sort then you could use tools such as lsof, ltrace, |
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strace, and tcpdump. |
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> I was curious as to what is the best way to handle this and situations |
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> like these. In this instance, I was assuming downloading, and running on |
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> a LiveCD would seem like the best policy. What if it uses methods to |
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> discover that and I need to run it on my real installation? Is a chroot |
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> jail the next best thing? As far as I know, to make a chroot jail I |
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> merely copy programs and libraries inside a folder with the proper / |
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> hierarchy and chroot into it. Is it more complex than this and are there |
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> any guides? |
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Perhaps a virtual server may be favorable... |
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|
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A possible solution might be linux vserver. It's a little bit of an advanced |
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chroot. This would respond with the proper MAC, and there would be some |
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control on what it actually sees. Here is info on vservers: |
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http://linux-vserver.org/short+presentation |
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http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/vserver-howto.xml |
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UML (usermode linux) might be another possibility, and there's quite a bit |
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along the lines of forensics support in the community as quite a few people |
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use it for honeypots. In taking this approach you could monitor the |
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activities of the binary _very_ closely. |
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> -- |
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> How do I know the past isn't fiction designed to account for the |
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> discrepancy between my immediate physical sensations and my state of mind? |
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Hehe, nice! |
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|
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HTH, |
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|
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Robert Larson |
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-- |
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gentoo-security@g.o mailing list |
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