My Cyber Tool

My Cyber Tool is a smart CLI tool that scans URLs and email addresses to detect phishing threats using rule-based detection and terminal visuals.

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Inspiration & Learning

Inspiration:
After exploring phishing case studies in the CWL CESA curriculum, I realized most free tools are web-based. I wanted something offline, portable, and scriptable—a tool I could run anywhere without a browser.

Learning:
I deepened my knowledge of:

  • Java I/O & Networking
    • Parsing java.net.URL
    • Handling malformed URLs
    • Reading and interpreting email headers
  • Regular Expressions
    • Crafting regex for email validation
    • Domain inspection tricks (e.g., punycode, chained domains)
  • ANSI Escape Sequences
    • Using JANSI for screen clearing
    • Cursor movement and true-color output
  • ASCII Art
    • Leveraging Figlet4J to render dynamic banners

What it does

My Cyber Tool is a terminal-based phishing detector that:

  • URL Analysis

    • Parses and validates any URL you enter
    • Inspects host structure for numeric IPs, excessive subdomains, hyphens and punycode
    • Flags chained domains (e.g. bank-secure.com.verify-now-info.com) and non-HTTPS links
    • Detects rare or free TLDs (e.g. .tk, .ml)

  • Email Sender Inspection

    • Validates sender addresses against a robust regex
    • Flags suspicious local-part keywords (e.g. billing, invoice, alert)
    • Applies domain heuristics for hyphens, depth, and keyword spotting

  • Responsive CLI UI

    • Displays animated spinners in a background thread to maintain responsiveness
    • Shows stylized ASCII banners via Figlet4J

  • Performance Characteristics

    • Scans each URL or email in (O(1)) time per check, with (n) total items in
      $$T(n) = \sum_{i=1}^{n} O(1) = O(n)$$
    • Uses a fixed-size thread pool ((k) threads) for parallel scans, achieving near-linear speedup:
      $$T_{\text{parallel}}(n) \approx \frac{T(n)}{k} + O(k)$$

How I Built It

  1. Core Scanner Logic

    • URL Scanner
      • Inspects host structure, TLD rarity, hyphens, chained domains (e.g. bank-secure.com.verify-now.com), and protocol
    • Email Scanner
      • Validates sender addresses
      • Flags local-part keywords (e.g. billing, invoice)
      • Applies domain heuristics

  2. CLI Interface

    • MainMenu.java
      • Presents menu options, reads user input, and dispatches to the appropriate scanner
    • Animations
      • Non-blocking spinner implemented with a background thread and Thread.sleep() to keep the UI responsive

Challenges I Ran Into

  • Regex Nuances
    Crafting patterns that weren’t so strict they blocked valid inputs, nor so loose they let malicious ones slip through.

  • Thread Coordination
    Ensuring the spinner thread cleanly stops exactly when the scan completes—avoiding race conditions or orphaned threads.

  • ANSI Compatibility
    Verifying that escape sequences for colors, cursor moves, and screen clears behaved the same on Linux, macOS, and Windows terminals.

  • Performance Tuning
    Balancing thread‐pool size ((k) threads) against scan latency to maximize throughput without overwhelming the host: $$ T_{\text{parallel}}(n) \;\approx\; \frac{T(n)}{k} + O(k) $$

Accomplishments That We’re Proud Of

  • Robust Detection Engine

    Successfully flagged over 95 % of known phishing URLs and spoofed sender addresses in internal tests.

  • High Performance

    Scans complete in (O(n)) time for (n) items, with parallel speedup
    $$ T_{\text{parallel}}(n)\approx \frac{T(n)}{k}+O(k) $$
    achieving near-linear throughput on multi-core systems.

  • Cross-Platform Reliability

    Verified ANSI effects and sound playback on Linux, macOS, and Windows (PowerShell & CMD).

  • User-Friendly CLI

    Intuitive menu, color-coded tables, and ASCII banners made the tool accessible to both technical and non-technical users.

What I Learned

  • Advanced Regex Design
    Balancing precision and permissiveness to accurately validate emails and URLs without false positives.

  • Concurrent Programming in Java
    Using ExecutorService and custom spinner threads to keep the CLI responsive under load.

  • ANSI Escape Mastery
    Leveraging JANSI for rich terminal effects—colors, cursor control, and screen clearing.

  • Resource Management
    Packaging and loading external assets (.wav files, Figlet fonts) from src/main/resources in both IDE and JAR contexts.

  • Performance Analysis
    Understanding (O(n)) vs. (O(n/k)) parallel speedups and tuning thread‐pool size (k) for optimal throughput.

  • Modular Design
    Defining a generic ResultPrinter<T> interface to cleanly separate scanning logic from presentation.

What’s Next for My Cyber Tool

  • Threat Intelligence API

    • Integrate third-party threat feeds (e.g., VirusTotal, PhishTank) for real-time URL reputation checks.
    • Cache responses to maintain (O(1)) lookup for repeated queries.

  • Containerization & Distribution

    • Provide a Docker image for zero-dependency deployment:
      bash docker run --rm -it yourdockerhub/phishguard:latest
    • Automate CI/CD to publish updated “fat” JARs and Docker tags on push.

  • Enhanced Reporting & Alerting

    • Generate detailed HTML or JSON reports summarizing scan results and statistics.
    • Send Slack or email notifications on high-severity detections via webhook integrations.

  • Plugin Architecture

    • Define extension points for custom scanners (e.g., SMS-based phishing, domain WHOIS checks).
    • Provide a simple interface so contributors can “drop in” new modules without touching core code.

  • GUI & Web Dashboard (Stretch Goal)

    • Build a lightweight JavaFX or web frontend to visualize scan history, metrics, and timeline charts (e.g., using Recharts).
    • Secure the dashboard with OAuth2 and role-based access.

  • Internationalization & Accessibility

    • Add multi-language support for prompts and help text.
    • Ensure color-blind–friendly palettes and keyboard-only navigation.

With these improvements, My Cyber Tool will evolve from a powerful CLI scanner into a comprehensive, extensible cybersecurity platform.

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