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Tracking a Specific Machine Anywhere On The Net
An anonymous reader writes "An article on ZDNet Australia tells of a new technique developed at CAIDA that involves using the individual machine's clock skew to fingerprint it anywhere on the net." Possible uses of the technique include "tracking, with some probability, a physical device as it connects to the Internet from different access points, counting the number of devices behind a NAT even when the devices use constant or random IP identifications, remotely probing a block of addresses to determine if the addresses correspond to virtual hosts (for example, as part of a virtual honeynet), and unanonymising anonymised network traces."
Absoloutely. I'm sick and tired of scr1pt k1ddies and spammers using hacked machines and IRC botnets to loot the internet at will. The anonymous aspects of the internet are in many ways a blessing, but like all good things it can be far too easily abused. If a malcontent is in a country where your legal system can't touch him or her, can you use this "fingerprint" to lock them out of your network without having to close off whole IP ranges?
What he can't kill, he has sex on. Trent.