From: "Jonathan M. Bresler" <jmb@kryten.Atinc.COM> Subject: Re: syslog idea To: *Hobbit* <hobbit@bronze.lcs.mit.edu> cc: bugtraq@crimelab.com On Thu, 6 Oct 1994, *Hobbit* wrote: If you don't have a secure logging host, there's also a possibility of someone breaking in and then trashing the logfile to hide their tracks. This brought to mind the idea of a "syslog monitor", or a process that would just hang out someplace and stat the various log files periodically, using some mechanism to warn of excessive size, mysterious shrinkage, and maybe some other warning signs. take a look at tripwire from gene spafford and gene kim at purdue. version 1.2 was released just last month. it will monitor any files you want for changes . . . it will also checksum those files . . . The limitation of Tripwire in this application is that log files are ALWAYS (well, almost) changing, so if Tripwire raised the alarm on a logfile, your reaction should be: "So what?". ;-) At the FIRST Conference in Boston a couple months ago, Gene Spafford spoke about Tripwire. Someone in the audience asked about the possibility of improving Tripwire so that it could checkpoint logfiles. Gene seemed to think this was a good idea, and said he'd consider it in a future version. ----- Fred Blonder fred@nasirc.hq.nasa.gov Hughes STX Corp. (301) 441-4079 7701 Greenbelt Rd. Greenbelt, Md. 20770