This plugin for PowerToys Run allows you to quickly search for an IP address, domain name, hash or any other data points in a list of Cyber Security tools. It's perfect for security analysts, penetration testers, or anyone else who needs to quickly lookup information when investigating artifacts or alerts.
To install the plugin:
C:\Program Files\PowerToys\modules\launcher\Plugins
C:\Users\<yourusername>\AppData\Local\PowerToys\modules\launcher\Plugins
ql
To use the plugin, simply open PowerToys Run by pressing Alt+Space and type the activation command ql
followed by the tool category and the data you want to lookup.
The plugin will open the data searched in a new tab in your default browser for each tool registered with that category.
This plugin currently comes default with the following tools:
NOTE: Prior to version 1.3.0
tools.conf
was the default configuration file used.The plugin will now automatically convert the
tools.conf
list totools.json
if it does not already exist in JSON form and will then default to using that instead.
The legacy config file will remain however will not be used and will not be included in future builds starting from v1.3.0
By default, the plugin will use the precofigured tools listed above. You can modify these settings by editing the tools.json
file in the plugin folder.
The format for the configuration file follows the below standard:
{
"Name": "VirusTotal",
"URL": "https://www.virustotal.com/gui/search/{0}",
"Categories": [ "ip", "domain", "hash"],
"Enabled": true
}
In the URL, {0}
will be replace with the search input. As such, only sites that work based on URL data (GET Requests) are supported for now.
For example, https://www.virustotal.com/gui/search/{0}
would become https://www.virustotal.com/gui/search/1.1.1.1
When the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) announced the TLS 1.3 standard in RFC 8446 in August 2018, plenty of tools and utilities were already supporting it (even as early as the year prior, some web browsers had implemented it as their default standard, only having to roll it back due to compatibility issues. Needless to say, the rollout was not perfect).
Toward the end of 2018, EMA conducted a survey of customers regarding their TLS 1.3 implementation and migration plans. In the January 2019 report, EMA concluded:
Some participantsβ organizations may find they have to go back to the drawing board and come up with a Plan B to enable TLS 1.3 without losing visibility, introducing unacceptable performance bottlenecks and greatly increasing operational overhead. Whether they feel they have no choice but to enable TLS 1.3 because major web server and browser vendors have already pushed ahead with it or because they need to keep pace with the industry as it embraces the new standard is unclear. What is clear is that security practitioners see the new standard as offering greater privacy and end-to-end data security for their organizations, and that the long wait for its advancement is over.
When EMA asked many of the same questions in an updated survey of 204 technology and business leaders toward the end of 2022, they found that nearly all the conclusions in the 2018/2019 report still hold true today. Here are the three biggest takeaways from this most recent survey:
While regulatory frameworks and vendor controls continue to push the adoption of the TLS 1.3 standard, adoption still comes with a significant price tag β one that many organizations are just not yet ready or able to consume. Technology improvements will increase rates of adoption over time, such as Cisco Secure Firewallβs ability to decrypt and inspect encrypted traffic. More recent and unique technologies, like Ciscoβs encrypted visibility engine, allow the firewall to recognize attack patterns in encrypted traffic without decryption. This latter functionality preserves performance and privacy of the encrypted flows without sacrificing the visibility and monitoring that 94% of respondents were concerned about.
Readers wishing to read the full EMA report can do so here and readers wishing to learn more about Cisco Secure Firewallβs encyrpted visibility engine can do so here.
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