Our goal is for HOSTS to grow into an internationally maintained open source test tool that will reflect the mainstream's best practices for defining and preserving system security. Key characteristics include:

• There will be a growing data base of tests and test cases, dependent on both the operating system/environment and the application (e.g., sendmail). The functionality is generic (e.g., the ability to create unique accounts).
• There will be a growing library of plugin modules, including the generics
  (Solaris 8, Red Hat Linux 7.x/8, Red Hat Advanced Server 2.1).

Work in Progress

• Expansion of test series to include settings verification for common lock down tools (e.g., Bastille for Linux).
• Definable references.
• HTML output.
• Ports to Solaris 9, Red Hat Linux 9, Debian Linux.

How Can HOSTS Help Others

HOSTS can help others in multiple ways. It can be easily modified to any operational environment using the Perl programming language. Furthermore, the return values/static conditions are text based, including:

• File attributes
• Parameter settings
• String occurrences
• Formats/structures
• Patch/application installation
• Anomalous file/directory conditions (world write files and directories, privileged executables and scripts, uneven protections and C-Shell scripts).