Nmap Author Receives FBI Subpoenas

spafbnerf writes "Fyodor, author of the open-source network scanning tool Nmap, posted a story to the nmap-hackers list about having received a number of subpoenas from the FBI this year, demanding webserver log data, none of which produced anything, either because they sought old information that had already been deleted from his logs, or because the subpoenas were improperly served. In every case the request was narrowly crafted, usually directed at finding out who visited the site in a very short window of time, such as a five minute period. Fyodor writes: "If they see that an attacker ran the command "wget http://download.insecure.org/nmap/dist/nmap-3.77.t gz" from a compromised host, they assume that she might have obtained that URL by visiting the Nmap download page from her home computer"." Update: 11/25 20:21 GMT by T : Reader kv9 adds a link to Kevin Poulson's story at SecurityFocus.

Comments

if the server goes down...

[Anonymous Coward]

the text is here

Dear Nmap hackers,

Let me first wish you Americans a happy Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, I'm
hard at work on a holiday Nmap version which should be available by
Christmas.

But enough pleasantries -- I want to discuss a sobering topic. With
increasing regularity this year, FBI agents from all over the country
have contacted me demanding webserver log data from Insecure.Org.
They don't give me reasons, but they generally seem to be
investigating a specific attacker who they think may have visited the
Nmap page at a certain time. If they see that an attacker ran the
command "wget http://download.insecure.org/nmap/dist/nmap-3.77.t gz"
from a compromised host, they assume that she might have obtained that
URL by visiting the Nmap download page from her home computer. So
far, I have never given them anything. In some cases, they asked too
late and data had already been purged through our data retention
policy. In other cases, they failed to serve the subpoena properly.
Sometimes they try asking without a subpoena and give up when I demand
one.

One can argue whether helping the FBI is good or bad. Remember that
they might be going after spammers, cyber-extortionists, DDOS kiddies,
etc. In this, I wish them the best. Nmap was designed to help
security -- the criminals and spammers put my work to shame! But the
desirability of helping the FBI is immaterial -- I may be forced by
law to comply with legal, properly served subpoenas. At the same
time, I'll try to fight anything too broad (like if they ask for
weblogs for a whole month). Protecting your privacy is important to
me, but Nmap users should be savvy enough to know that all of your
network activity leave traces. I'm not the only one who gets these
subpoenas -- large ISPs and webmail providers receive them daily.
Most other major security sites probably do too. Most of you probably
don't care if someone finds out that you downloaded Nmap, Nessus,
Hping2, John the Ripper, etc. Nothing on Insecure.Org is illegal.
But for those of you who do care, there are plenty of mechanisms
available to preserve your anonymity. Remember this security mantra:
defense in depth.

Cheers,
Fyodor

Re:Seems valid

[gvc]

From the Oxford English Dictionary:

oversight ('&schwa.Uv&schwa.rsaIt), sb. [OVER- 7, 5.] The action of overseeing
or overlooking.
1 a Supervision, superintendence, inspection; charge, care, management,
control.

Re:About wireless

[MikeFM]

I'm all for public access points but I do think that you should know what you're getting yourself into when you run a public AP. Most businesses especially should make sure they are covered.

A little off topic of the FBI but related to public APs.. Something I like to do is run a public AP that doesn't have access to the Internet. It just acts as something of a localized BBS system. Anyone within reach can message each other, trade files, participate in the forums, or check out the wiki. It's not hard to make it so that someone connecting will get you're entrace page anytime they try to connect to something other than your system. With a decent antenea you can reach a fairly large group of people in a crowded metro area. An interesting way to meet your neighbors.

Re:Seems reasonable

[Le Marteau]

Okay, now they only have to check the server does have it's clock in sync, otherwise those 5 minute clips of logs won't be very useful.. :)

Incorrect. Fyodor's clock can read 1988, and the logs would still be useful. The spooks can sync his logs up with the 'real time' by comparing his network activities with other servers, and what THEIR clocks said in THEIR logs. For instance, the probes that THEY were doing to his server, would be logged, as well as when they did the probes.