Free (and/or open source) security software

Question

I know about my options for antivirus, antispyware, and firewall, but are there any higher end security tools for any operating systems (although I'm running Windows and Cygwin, so those options would be especially appreciated) to do things like password recovery, computer forensics, and that sort of thing? I'm currently running the Microsoft Network Monitor and WireShark (they are pretty much the same thing), so that's covered...

Answer 1

The entire set of SysInternals tools (now from Microsoft). I can't live without them.

Answer 2

Have you checked out the backtrack linux distribution? It is an entire distribution around computer security.

Answer 3

I've used Ophcrack before on a few client's computers, and it works wonders. As for a free and decent forensics package for Windows, I've yet to find one. I'll be watching this to see if anyone can dig one up.

Answer 4

May I suggest a file integrity checker, for example TripWire (the UNIX version is free). Also, there are many FOSS alternatives like YAFIC, AFICK, et al.

You might also find Host Based Intrusion Detection Systems interesting, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host-based_intrusion_detection_system.

It doesn't sound like your interested in securing a whole LAN, but I'd also mention Snort Network Intrusion Detection.