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MeerCAT®-Pro Wireless Security Visual Analytics

MeerCAT®-Pro is a visual analytics tool designed to help users locate wireless assets and networks, and assess the risks to their organization. Initially developed for and in close collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense, MeerCAT® integrates data from wireless discovery and other security applications with a geographic information system (GIS) to provide a unified view of detected wireless devices, their vulnerabilities and threats.

Visual Tools for Wireless Security Analysis

MeerCAT® is a visual analytics tool designed to help users locate wireless assets and networks, and assess the risks to their organization. Initially developed for and in close collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense, MeerCAT® integrates data from wireless discovery and other security applications with a geographic information system (GIS) to provide a unified view of detected wireless devices, their vulnerabilities and threats.

Many organizations that are unaware of the risks from/to wireless networks have an eye-opening experience by using MeerCAT® in conjunction with wireless data. It can be data you have collected by wardriving your organization’s campus, or data supplied with our demo.

 

What is the value of MeerCAT®?

By visualizing wireless security information, MeerCAT® makes it easier for users to visually correlate large volumes of wireless data and see the wireless threats hidden in the haystack of data. MeerCAT® simplifies the analysis of wireless data for security and network professionals, and makes the information more accessible for those less skilled. The result is improved efficiency and accuracy in managing wireless security risks, reducing overall costs.

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FAQs

General Information

What is MeerCAT®?
MeerCAT® (Mobile Cyber Asset Tracks) is a visual analytic tool that helps users locate authorized, unauthorized, and unsecure wireless devices, and assess the wireless security risks to their organization. It visualizes data acquired from a range of security applications, such wireless discovery, packet capture and intrusion detection systems.
My organization doesn’t support wireless networks, so why would MeerCAT® be of interest?
A simple connection of a notebook with a wireless card to a wired network can open up an entry point into an organization’s wired network. An attacker could compromise the wireless notebook either when the notebook was used outside of the organization’s network or could penetrate it from outside the organization’s perimeter if its signal is broadcasted. In addition, unauthorized wireless access point can be easily attached to a wired network by an employee, exposing the wired network.
What is the value of MeerCAT®?
By visualizing wireless security information, MeerCAT® makes it easier for users to visually correlate large volumes of wireless data and see the wireless threats hidden in the haystack of data. MeerCAT® simplifies the analysis of wireless data for security and network professionals, and makes the information more accessible for those less skilled. The result is improved efficiency and accuracy in managing wireless security risks, reducing overall costs.
Does MeerCAT® generate compliance reports?
MeerCAT® auto-generates template-based and customizable reports to support regulatory compliance reporting. The generated reports provide visual snapshots and summaries of findings from wireless discovery, security audits and assessments. MeerCAT® reports and screenshots can be distributed via email and in various formats including Microsoft Office Word and PowerPoint. Information available in the visual reports include:
    • Network topology maps
    • Wireless network flow graphs
    • RF channel usage and heatmaps
    • Summary of intrusion detection alerts
    • Inventory and location of discovered wireless
    • Rogue devices
    • Poorly secured devices
    • Changed devices from a previous audit
How does MeerCAT® differ from other available wireless security visualization products?
While there are a number of commercial products that offer some form of visualization of wireless data, they are primarily designed for their own proprietary data set or for applications other than wireless security (such as network performance monitoring). MeerCAT®’s advanced visual analytics are specifically designed to support wireless security and a range of wireless and wired security data sources including open source, commercial, and government off-the-shelf applications. MeerCAT® complements available wireless security management products, particularly where the data and dynamic wireless network environment are too complex to analyze with those tools alone. MeerCAT®’s visual analytics makes it easier to track mobile devices and see vulnerabilities and threats amidst large volumes of multidimensional and multivariate data.
Where can I learn more about wireless?
MeerCAT® can be valuable to users with different levels of experience. If you’re new to the field, or if wireless protection is just one of many other duties you have, you should start by learning about wardriving. Also be sure to check out Kismet, a free packet-sniffing software that can be used to passively detect wireless access points and wireless clients. MeerCAT® ingests Kismet data. Some also find the Linux security distribution BackTrack (now known as Kali Linux) helpful; this web site offers additional FAQ’s, HowTo’s, and forums. This helpful guide covers the best (and worst) virtual private networks/VPNs for Linux users.

Data-related

What types of data sources and tools does MeerCAT® currently support?
MeerCAT® currently supports the importation and analysis of a wide range of collection data formats:
    • Wireless discovery (including Kismet and Flying Squirrel)
    • Packet capture (including AirPcap, libpcap, and Wireshark)
    • Intrusion detection (including Snort, and Aruba RFprotect)

 

Applied Visions Inc. will interface MeerCAT® functionality to other data sources to meet the needs of our users and of our users and the wireless security community. For a most up to date list of supported tools or custom development for specific applications, contact us at (631) 759-3988.

How well does MeerCAT® scale for large wireless networks?
MeerCAT® has been specifically designed for large-scale networks. Specific visualization techniques and visual analytics have been adopted to aggregate the information to get a global perspective from which users can drill down to the root cause. Among them are the use of tree maps to monitor NIDS events and navigation tools to drill down from an aggregate view of detected networks. We have also run several successful performance tests importing large scale data sets representative of thousands of networks audited over a year.
Can MeerCAT® visually map the geographic location of discovered wireless devices in any part of the world?
Yes. MeerCAT® maps the location of wireless devices on imagery available in the public domain, in addition to custom imagery. The resolution of the public domain imagery varies based on the geographic region. For example, the imagery resolution for the United States is high enough to discern building, houses, and cars. Outside the United States, the imagery resolution depends on the region and is at least 15 meters per pixel. For information on specific region(s), contact us at (631) 759-3988.

Users

Who are the targeted users of MeerCAT®?
MeerCAT® is a government-sponsored software application developed in close collaboration with government and commercial security professionals who use wireless discovery and intrusion detection systems. Users include:
    • Operational security personnel, computer network defenders and penetration testers responsible for intrusion detection
    • Security professionals who conduct periodic wireless security audits for regulatory and policy compliance
    • Network administrators responsible for WLAN asset tracking and management
Do you have any current customers who are using the product?
Yes, we have government and commercial users who are using MeerCAT®. References can be provided on a per request basis.
Are there any training requirements to use MeerCAT®?
No. MeerCAT® provides out-of-the-box integration with GIS and data sources it supports. Further, MeerCAT® visual analytics have been designed to be intuitive for its target users, identified above. However, for organizations that are interested in training for less-skilled personnel, training is available.

Availability & Editions

What editions of MeerCAT® are available and what are the differences?
The MeerCAT®-Pro Edition is designed for post-hoc analysis of wireless discovery data collected from a wireless security audit (commonly referred to as a “wardrive”).The MeerCAT® Enterprise Edition is designed for real-time network and security monitoring of the wireless and wired network environment and visualizes information from intrusion detection systems. The Enterprise Edition also supports all the features and functionality of the Professional Edition. Users of MeerCAT®-Pro can easily upgrade to the Enterprise Edition with a new license key.
How can I request a trial copy of MeerCAT®?
Requests for a trial copy of MeerCAT® can be made by contacting us at (631) 759-3988 or by sending a message through our contact page. Please provide your full name, organization, organization email address, and phone number. Typically we will provide evaluators with a CD or a private download area. Separately, a license key file will be delivered by email which unlocks MeerCAT® for you to evaluate.
Is MeerCAT® available for international customers?
MeerCAT® is not subject to U.S. Department of State licensing controls. It has been classified by the Department of Commerce with an ECCN classification of 5D002. This is the classification given to several products of the Apache Software Foundation, Sun Microsystems, and others. It is available for sale to many countries. If unsure, contact us for more information.

System Requirements

What are the minimum hardware requirements for installation of MeerCAT®?
No special hardware is needed to run MeerCAT® other than a typical PC (desktop or laptop). We currently recommend the following minimum system requirements to run MeerCAT® and a GIS to view the location of wireless devices and their RF signal footprint discovered from an outdoor (e.g., campus or city-wide) audit.
    • Intel Pentium 3 (1 GHz) or AMD Athlon, or higher
    • 256 MB of RAM
    • 3D graphics card
    • 1 GB disk space

 

Organizations that would like to use ArcGIS as the GIS platform or Microsoft Virtual Earth can reach us at(631) 759-3988 or through our contact page for further information.

What are the minimum software requirements for installation of MeerCAT®?
MeerCAT® supports Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7 operating systems. An internet connection is required to pull down geographic imagery, which is then cached locally.