Improved Network Security and Disguising TCP/IP Fingerprint Through Dynamic Stack Modification

Each computer on a network has an OS Fingerprint that can be collected through various applications. Because of the complexity of network systems, vulnerabilities and exploitations of the same to gain access to systems will always be a problem. Those wishing to attack a system can use the OS Fingerprint to identify the types of vulnerabilities and software exploits that will be effective against the system. This paper discusses how system vulnerabilities become exploited and used by network attackers. Because OS Fingerprints are one of many tools network attackers will use to identify and attack a system, concealing a system’s OS Fingerprint becomes an important part of securing that system. To demonstrate the capability of concealing the OS Fingerprint of a system, a prototype system was developed. This prototype changed the OS Fingerprint of a Linux system so that it matched a Windows NT system.