Port scanning has its uses, but by a very limited number of people. Let's look at a few examples:
A number of ISP netadmins use port scanning to detect the presence of publically-offered services--the netadmin can then perform tests of those services to ensure they don't become smurf amplifiers or security holes. @Home looks for servers that operate in defiance of their Terms of Service (perhaps too hard). ORBS uses limited port scans to detect and document open mail relays.
Within corporate networks, netadmins regularly scan inside IP addresses looking for security holes -- particularly of publically accessible servers. Services offered are correlated with lists of possible problems, and the software examined to apply appropriate patches.
Some research depends on Internet-wide port scans to further worthwhile projects. For example, the "fingerprinting" of public servers provide statistics of what software is being used. A mapping project sponsored by NASA generates a sample of "working" systems by using a limited port probe -- I see this all the time in my firewall logs and traced down the project to find out just what was going on. (At some point, I will update my firewall filters to pass through the well-identified IP addresses of this activity, so that their research will reflect reality a bit better.)
Unfortunately, the good works that honest researchers (both pro and amateur) do is far outstripped by the number of people who use the "burgler tools" indiscriminately, or for nafarious purposes. Mass fingerprinting identifies systems ripe for root/admin compromise, or for potential denial of service if the wish arises to do so.
Another commenter said that [paraphrase] "a person checking doors to see if they are locked is suspicious in and of itself": it depends on who is doing the knob-rattling, and whether I know about it beforehand. Port scanning is just that, "knob-rattling." Most firewall appliances and software sold today will detect and block even "stealth" scans of their assigned IP addresses. As they should.
The sad part is that people who run port scanners are considered guilty until proven innocent of trying to commit an unsocial act. AS THEY SHOULD BE. This posture makes sense, because port scanning, like UCE/UBE, uses resources that the user of the port scanning software isn't paying for, and in all too many cases isn't desired by the receiver of the scan packets.
As responsible world citizens, I hereby issue a call to arms against the evil stockpiling of PS2's in Iraq! We must bring this terrible evil to justice. I personally know several children and adults who will not be able to get one of these systems for the holidays, and I strongly feel that this is the root cause!
We must invade Iraq, steal all their PS2's, then nuke them into oblivion!
And then, we attain the movie rights and begin production of a game based on the battle for the PS2.
even if you can't do it (or anything) worth a shit, like the folks at slashdot.
Re:I don't see what changed?
on
Deja.com Vu!
·
· Score: 1
the proximity of Submit and Preview got me againthe proximity of Submit and Preview got me again
what's funny and perhaps more ironic, given the context, is that slashdot's sumbit and preview buttons are reverse of the way deja.com's are. gets me every time. seems people will likely more often hit the button on the left first. you're right -- they should change the damn buttons.
The problem with NSI is that they are serving two roles. They run the root DNS servers. This gives them a guaranteed flow of income no matter how much the customers hate them. Their second role is that of a registrar.
Now, they seem to do a pretty good job of running the root name servers. The problem is that this position gives them an advantage over the other registrars. For one, they are guaranteed to have income. No matter how badly they screw up, or how much market share they lose, they will still have money rolling in because all of their competition has to pay them. In addition, as in this case, they can arbitrarily snap up domains without having to actually pay for them. Any other registrar that wanted to play this game would have to fork over cash to NSI to fund it.
What I think ICANN should dictate is this. One or more companies will be given contracts to register domain names, similar to what is done now. A second group of one or more companies will be given contracts to run the root servers. People who register a domain will pay the first group. The first group will pay some fee to the second group for each domain they want served. The contracts for both groups will stipulate that they are not allowed to own, be owned by, partner with, or be the same as any company in the other group.
The abuse that is happening with the current system is out of hand. NSI is acting like a greedy spoiled brat who is causing untold amounts of grief for thousands of hard working admins out there. Unfortunately, with the current system, they can and will keep doing it. In fact, I would expect their behavior to actually get worse as their market share declines. As they lose customers, past behavior indicates that they will abuse their power more to make up for the lost profits.
He actually passed his guilty plea to the judge in the form of a chain letter:
Please e-mail this plea to 5 people in the courtroom, who will then in turn e-mail it to 5 more people...
Failure to do so will result in the death of your immediate family, increase of Oracle pricing for your employer, and the installation of RedHat 7 on your C++ development machine.
I was talking to one of my coworkers, whose sister had just filed for bankruptcy. Apparently, she had never seen more credit card offers in her life.
they care about your credit, it's just that there's a limit on how often you can file for bankruptcy. if you just filed, they love you, because you can't take them to the cleaners again for a while. or at least that's what i heard once.
reminds me of one of my favorites: "think nobody cares? try missing a couple of payments."
although I have yet to find a telemarketter that doesn't show up as unknown or private
heh. i have privacy manager from ameritech, which basically does the same thing but lets the calls come through if the caller leaves their name. i hear the name then can accept, deny, or play the "put on do not call list" message. most telemarketers block caller id and use dialing computers, which are confused by this service.
since i've had this service, i've received exactly one telemarketing call in 6 months. it was for a company wanting me to switch to them for my local toll calls. they were smart enough to not block the caller id, so the call came through immediately.
and guess who the company was? ameritech.
i'm on their "do not call" list now and haven't heard from them since.
it's not mac compatible? oh, i forgot. it has two buttons, and macs can't use the second button. like everyone else, this company doesn't give a rat's ass about macs.
Slashdot Mirror
my conclusion is what i've known all along: the us is superior, and the rest of the world is a bunch of inbreds, commies, or wankers.
any questions?
Within corporate networks, netadmins regularly scan inside IP addresses looking for security holes -- particularly of publically accessible servers. Services offered are correlated with lists of possible problems, and the software examined to apply appropriate patches.
Some research depends on Internet-wide port scans to further worthwhile projects. For example, the "fingerprinting" of public servers provide statistics of what software is being used. A mapping project sponsored by NASA generates a sample of "working" systems by using a limited port probe -- I see this all the time in my firewall logs and traced down the project to find out just what was going on. (At some point, I will update my firewall filters to pass through the well-identified IP addresses of this activity, so that their research will reflect reality a bit better.)
Unfortunately, the good works that honest researchers (both pro and amateur) do is far outstripped by the number of people who use the "burgler tools" indiscriminately, or for nafarious purposes. Mass fingerprinting identifies systems ripe for root/admin compromise, or for potential denial of service if the wish arises to do so.
Another commenter said that [paraphrase] "a person checking doors to see if they are locked is suspicious in and of itself": it depends on who is doing the knob-rattling, and whether I know about it beforehand. Port scanning is just that, "knob-rattling." Most firewall appliances and software sold today will detect and block even "stealth" scans of their assigned IP addresses. As they should.
The sad part is that people who run port scanners are considered guilty until proven innocent of trying to commit an unsocial act. AS THEY SHOULD BE. This posture makes sense, because port scanning, like UCE/UBE, uses resources that the user of the port scanning software isn't paying for, and in all too many cases isn't desired by the receiver of the scan packets.
whew... i'm tired now.
We must invade Iraq, steal all their PS2's, then nuke them into oblivion!
And then, we attain the movie rights and begin production of a game based on the battle for the PS2.
imagine a peltier on one of these. i bet you could overclock it to at least 833ghz...
weird, indeed. but, as i said,
math is fun!!!
even if you can't do it (or anything) worth a shit, like the folks at slashdot.
what's funny and perhaps more ironic, given the context, is that slashdot's sumbit and preview buttons are reverse of the way deja.com's are. gets me every time. seems people will likely more often hit the button on the left first. you're right -- they should change the damn buttons.
credit card database stolen -- 4 months ago
am i to believe that slashdot is making some reference to the untimeliness of someone else? that's just funny. reeeeally funny.
Now, they seem to do a pretty good job of running the root name servers. The problem is that this position gives them an advantage over the other registrars. For one, they are guaranteed to have income. No matter how badly they screw up, or how much market share they lose, they will still have money rolling in because all of their competition has to pay them. In addition, as in this case, they can arbitrarily snap up domains without having to actually pay for them. Any other registrar that wanted to play this game would have to fork over cash to NSI to fund it.
What I think ICANN should dictate is this. One or more companies will be given contracts to register domain names, similar to what is done now. A second group of one or more companies will be given contracts to run the root servers. People who register a domain will pay the first group. The first group will pay some fee to the second group for each domain they want served. The contracts for both groups will stipulate that they are not allowed to own, be owned by, partner with, or be the same as any company in the other group.
The abuse that is happening with the current system is out of hand. NSI is acting like a greedy spoiled brat who is causing untold amounts of grief for thousands of hard working admins out there. Unfortunately, with the current system, they can and will keep doing it. In fact, I would expect their behavior to actually get worse as their market share declines. As they lose customers, past behavior indicates that they will abuse their power more to make up for the lost profits.
Please e-mail this plea to 5 people in the courtroom, who will then in turn e-mail it to 5 more people...
Failure to do so will result in the death of your immediate family, increase of Oracle pricing for your employer, and the installation of RedHat 7 on your C++ development machine.
Thank you.
they care about your credit, it's just that there's a limit on how often you can file for bankruptcy. if you just filed, they love you, because you can't take them to the cleaners again for a while. or at least that's what i heard once.
reminds me of one of my favorites: "think nobody cares? try missing a couple of payments."
heh. i have privacy manager from ameritech, which basically does the same thing but lets the calls come through if the caller leaves their name. i hear the name then can accept, deny, or play the "put on do not call list" message. most telemarketers block caller id and use dialing computers, which are confused by this service.
since i've had this service, i've received exactly one telemarketing call in 6 months. it was for a company wanting me to switch to them for my local toll calls. they were smart enough to not block the caller id, so the call came through immediately.
and guess who the company was? ameritech.
i'm on their "do not call" list now and haven't heard from them since.
it's not mac compatible? oh, i forgot. it has two buttons, and macs can't use the second button. like everyone else, this company doesn't give a rat's ass about macs.
gee... that sounds rigid...
(10 lines of code)
# woohoo!!
(10 more lines)
# wee!!! i'm a comment
(yet another 10 lines)
# kiss my ass! i ain't commenting shit!
even easier to circumvent than the lameness filter.
all ya had to say was...
python!!!
python!!!
python!!!
python!!!
see?
you are a bad-grammar poo poo head.
It also minimizes the chance for getting the crap kicked out of you if your attacker knows that his potential victim is armed.
that's because you are constantly calling cmdrtaco.cannot.spell.worth.shit();
to != too;
very poor spelling. it's "grammar."
You always have to have the word "4n" before words starting with a vowell. "4" is used by itself only before constinents.
what the hell is a "constinent?" i think you meant "consonant." and "133t" doesn't begin with a "vowell", fuckwit.
The trolling will continue until the moderation system is fixed
ooh... another moderation revolutionary. how original.
now do we get 244 annoying fucking songs to play as the ringer? i wish nokia would start making phones instead of goddamn toys.