computer science

Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks

Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks rather than just read about it. In short: Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks (SATAN) was a free software vulnerability scanner for analyzing networked computers. SATAN captured the attention of a broad technical audience, appearing in PC Magazine and drawing threats from the United States Department of Justice.

Key takeaways

Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks (SATAN) was a free software vulnerability scanner for analyzing networked computers. SATAN captured the attention of a broad technical audience, appearing in PC Magazine and drawing threats from the United States Department of Justice. It featured a web interface, complete with forms to enter targets, tables to display results, and context-sensitive tutorials that appeared when a vulnerability had been found.

Naming For those offended by the name SATAN, the software contained a special command called repent, which rearranged the letters in the program's acronym from "SATAN" to "SANTA".

Description The tool was developed by Dan Farmer and Wietse Venema. Neil Gaiman drew the artwork for the SATAN documentation. SATAN was designed to help systems administrators automate the process of testing their systems for known vulnerabilities that can be exploited via the network. This was particularly useful for networked systems with multiple hosts. Like most security tools, it was useful for good or malicious purposes – it was also useful to would-be intruders looking for systems with security holes. SATAN was written mostly in Perl and utilized a web browser such as Netscape, Mosaic or Lynx to provide the user interface. This easy to use interface drove the scanning process and presents the results in summary format. As well as reporting the presence of vulnerabilities, SATAN also gathered large amounts of general network information, such as which hosts are connected to subnets, what types of machines they are and which services they offered.

Status SATAN's popularity diminished after the 1990s. It was released on April 5, 1995 and development has ceased. In 2006, SecTools.Org conducted a security popularity poll and developed a list of 100 network security analysis tools in order of popularity based on the responses of 3,243 people. Results suggest that SATAN has been replaced by nmap, Nessus and to a lesser degree SARA (Security Auditor's Research Assistant), and SAINT.

References

External links Official home page History of SATAN

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks

In research: Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1995 software, Computer security software, Internet Protocol based network software, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks in simple terms?

Why does Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Security Administrator Tool for Analyzing Networks.