Technical teams now have an open source tool to facilitate the detection and mitigation of security vulnerabilities in network equipment. After the completion of the project's development cycle in October, RNP launches the OpenNetAudit tool for the entire teaching and research community.

The project received funding from Programa FRIDA - Regional Fund for Digital Innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean, an initiative of Lacnic (Internet Address Registry for Latin America and the Caribbean), in the Stability and Security category.

OpenNetAudit's primary role is to audit configuration items and software, recommend best practices, and generate reports for tracking security vulnerabilities in multivendor network equipment. The software is being used at several RNP Points of Presence to audit distribution and access equipment.

According to Guilherme Ladvocat, one of the software developers and analyst at RNP, although there are opensource libraries and plugins that facilitate interaction with network equipment, an open source, manufacturer-independent, and comprehensive solution for security auditing is not easily found. “What you find are scripts that solve specific problems and this is often not practical and definitive”, he explains. 

With OpenNetAudit, network analysts, IT managers, internet providers will be able to use the tool to audit their equipment, with feedback on good security practices. They will also be able to create their own rules, according to their particular needs.

“At RNP, we need scalable solutions due to the size and complexity of our network. That's why the OpenNetAudit tool, which aims to be scalable, flexible and customizable," stated Ladvocat.

The tool was developed by RNP's Operations Management, with the support of the Systems area. It also had the Security Incident Response Team (CAIS/RNP), which acts as a CSIRT, which helped document the best configuration practices applied to the tool.

To find out more information about the software, visit https://netaudit.rnp.br/.