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Security Focus on Cable Modem Uncapping

Posted by chrisd on from the a-new-way-to-go-to-court dept.

Anonymous Coward writes "Cable modem uncapping allows broadband customers to boost their bandwidth to 6 or 7 times what they're paying for, by spoofing their modem's TFTP client into downloading a hacked DOCSIS configuration file. Kevin Poulsen at SecurityFocus reports that a new underground program called OneStep makes the process easy and fun for the whole family. Broadband companies are cutting off the uncappers that they catch, but things could get out of control soon."

3 of 484 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Easy to catch by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Don't forget video conferencing. Being capped at 15KB/s limits you to some pretty ugly video quality. I want to use my cable modem to do video conferencing with family and friends around the country. Right now it is one step away from intolerable and usually not worth the effort.

    --
    When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  2. Unused bandwidth can never be recovered... by weave · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I understand the rationale for caps but I wish it was implemented with a bit more imagination and skill. Cable modem bandwidth usage has peak and off-peak hours. At 6am on a Sunday morning it's practically dead while Tuesday at 7pm it's heavy. So why can't they uncap or raise the cap during off peak hours so someone that wants to download three ISOs of redhat 7.3 could program their box to grab it early Sunday morning? All that bandwidth they are saving during off peak hours is wasted. It's not like they can apply it back during peak usage.

    This would also encourage off peak usage. It'd be far better to squeeze out that 2 gig download quickly when it has no real impact on others versus taking hours due to a cap during peak.

    I'm guessing you just can't reprovision the cable boxes that quickly and dynamically everywhere, but damn, it makes sense and I still don't understand why caps aren't implemented using some QOS type service at the head-end anyway...

  3. Re:Property vs Service by Gordonjcp · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Doesn't work that way. Consider this: The government provide the roads. I pay the government to provide roads, and they keep up their end of the bargain by giving me nice, long, straight motorways to drive on. However, the conditions of use, as it were, state that there's a maximum speed limit of 70mph on the motorway.

    Now, the government doesn't supply the car. I went out and bought the car. I have a Citroen, you may have a Ford, or a Vauxhall, or whatever you like. They're all *capable* of going faster than 70mph, but if I get caught doing that, I get a speeding fine, and points on my licence. I can't argue that "I bought the car, I paid for it, so I'll use it any way I want".