NIST has initiated a Web site that enables users to view more detailed tool descriptions, sample input and output, and, in some cases, to conduct a real or simulated tool demonstration. Introduction Many Web sites currently contain lists of security-related tools. Most of these sites consist of an undifferentiated list of tools, where each tool entry contains a pointer enabling the user to download the tool and, possibly, a short abstract. However, it can be somewhat overwhelming for the user who is trying to discover what is available in this arena.
Some sites go one step further, and sort the tools list according to functional capabilities.
This does add some organization to the chaos, but it still requires the user to choose one tool, out of perhaps 20 or more, on the basis of a terse abstract. Of course, the user can just download the tool and try it out. However, this is not always so simple for Unix tools. Most of these tools require root-level access for the installation process, and many of them demand a fair amount of tinkering and tweaking before they will run. The Computer Security Division of NIST plans to add a large variety of security tools to the RISQ database.