The Vent and Rant Thread

[devilsadvocate]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

And if I give my ISP the offending IP address, I cannot understand why they maintain they cannot block it .... and I must rely on my firewall ....

First off, it's likely a dynamic IP, which means it might belong to a spambot one day and your cousin the next.

Second off, it sets a bad precedent for the ISP; there are roughly 4 billion IP addresses, many changing hands regularly (see above reason).

At any rate, you must have a really powerful antenna if a machine on the mainland is making it all the way to your wifi.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by devilsadvocate

First off, it's likely a dynamic IP, which means it might belong to a spambot one day and your cousin the next.

Well, if it's a dial-up account. For a broadband account, the IP may be dynamic, but likely won't change once allocated. My cable modem account IP hasn't changed since I got it. My previous DSL account didn't either.

Second off, it sets a bad precedent for the ISP; there are roughly 4 billion IP addresses, many changing hands regularly (see above reason).

And I think ISPs want a bit more proof there's a bad guy out there.

Steve (Spinrite) Gibson went on a while back about a DDOS attack on his server, and the fun he had getting his host to block the offending traffic.

He wound up tracking the attack back to a source, and popped up in an IRC channel where the kid who had launched it hung out. Turned out it was a case of mistaken identity, and the script kiddie had launched the attack from his botnet under the impression Gibson had said something he didn't actually say.

At any rate, you must have a really powerful antenna if a machine on the mainland is making it all the way to your wifi.

I suspect Geoff is seeing access attempts on his IP address that have nothing to do with wifi. You can get that sort of nonsense, and it doesn't matter how you're connected: merely that you are visible. I got grim amusement a few years ago when I connected my laptop in a hotel room, and watched something try to contact the VNC server instance I had running. That's what I have a firewall for, so I blocked the attempt, thumbed my nose and shook my head.

At home, there's a wireless router with the firewall enabled, and desktop and laptop both have software firewalls. Two, in fact: I left Windows firewall up since it hasn't conflicted with anything, and have Sygate Personal Firewall in addition. The file system is pretty well locked down, so even if someone gets past the WPA2 in the router, they aren't likely to get anywhere else.
______
Dennis

[recluse]

You know what I think?
Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that if I start posting what I'm thinking, there isn't any point in you all thinking, because my thinking shorts out your ability to think, because your brains realize there is no way for them to keep up with the brilliance of my thinking.
Of course, I could be wrong.
But it's highly unlikely, because it's never happened before.
Anyway, I was thinking that all the problems in the world can be traced back to a single source. Your thinking.
Now I don't blame any of you. How were you to know that your thinking was substandard?
Isn't that what evolution is for?
One minute you're thinking about nothing worth mentioning,
and the next minute you're a slave of the new dominant race...ferns.
Don't get me wrong, I'm as shocked as you are.
I don't know when the ferns dropped the ball, but they did.
The human race would have been better off.
Now you'll just have to get used to the idea that you are going to take a backseat to foot fungus.
Personally, I blame Global Humidity.
Too many people, too close together.
All sweaty and damp and filthy.
Didn't any of you notice the smell?
Over your own, I mean?
Still, it could be worse.
I don't see how, but that's what you are supposed to say when the human race is about to be reduced to fungus food.
Frankly, I think rolling around on the floor, laughing hysterically and wetting myself is a more rational response.
But people are just so sensitive.
They really hate it when you point and laugh at them.
While they are being eaten by foot fungus.
Go figure.
I blame the education system.
And sensitivity seminars.
Seriously, it all seems kind of silly now, don't you think?
Sorry! That was cruel.
I'll think it for you.
Just lie back, relax and wait for the fungus.
I bet it takes a really long time to be eaten by a fungus.
Must hurt like Hell, too.
Really, REALLY itchy and icky.
That's what I think.

[devilsadvocate]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Well, if it's a dial-up account. For a broadband account, the IP may be dynamic, but likely won't change once allocated. My cable modem account IP hasn't changed since I got it. My previous DSL account didn't either.

I've had it go months without changing, and I've had it change 3 times in as many weeks; that was all with the same ISP, and it was cable. Not super long ago either. Of course it can go either way, and I have no idea how that whole thing works in the UK, other than very slowly (from what I hear).

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Steve (Spinrite) Gibson went on a while back about a DDOS attack on his server, and the fun he had getting his host to block the offending traffic.

He wound up tracking the attack back to a source, and popped up in an IRC channel where the kid who had launched it hung out. Turned out it was a case of mistaken identity, and the script kiddie had launched the attack from his botnet under the impression Gibson had said something he didn't actually say.

That's impressive; he actually got to the source. Most of the vengeful types just run into the spambot machines. Then again you did say he was a kiddie.

The fact is, the cops won't get the guy who cut you off in traffic the other day, and the ISPs likewise can't police the world. I personally wouldn't expect them to.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I suspect Geoff is seeing access attempts on his IP address that have nothing to do with wifi.

I figured as much, was just pointing it out.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

You can get that sort of nonsense, and it doesn't matter how you're connected: merely that you are visible. I got grim amusement a few years ago when I connected my laptop in a hotel room, and watched something try to contact the VNC server instance I had running. That's what I have a firewall for, so I blocked the attempt, thumbed my nose and shook my head.

Some years ago when I still ran Windows full-time, I also ran Sygate (before MS bought it and ran it into the ground). I have to admit seeing the log auto-update with the endless stream of seemingly random pings and aborted connection attempts was sobering. It was one of my many "I gotta do something about this" moments which contributed to my switching to Linux.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

At home, there's a wireless router with the firewall enabled, and desktop and laptop both have software firewalls. Two, in fact: I left Windows firewall up since it hasn't conflicted with anything, and have Sygate Personal Firewall in addition. The file system is pretty well locked down, so even if someone gets past the WPA2 in the router, they aren't likely to get anywhere else.

I was literally starting the install of IPFire on a spare box when I saw a response on this thread. Mine will go gateway > router > wireless router (gotta love multiple subnets) when it's done. Wireless is WPA2-AES with a 256-bit key; if anyone has a notion of brute-forcing it they'd better bring some coffee because it'll be awhile.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by recluse

You know what I think?
Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that if I start posting what I'm thinking, there isn't any point in you all thinking, because my thinking shorts out your ability to think, because your brains realize there is no way for them to keep up with the brilliance of my thinking.
Of course, I could be wrong.
But it's highly unlikely, because it's never happened before.
Anyway, I was thinking that all the problems in the world can be traced back to a single source. Your thinking.
Now I don't blame any of you. How were you to know that your thinking was substandard?
Isn't that what evolution is for?
One minute you're thinking about nothing worth mentioning,
and the next minute you're a slave of the new dominant race...ferns.
Don't get me wrong, I'm as shocked as you are.
I don't know when the ferns dropped the ball, but they did.
The human race would have been better off.
Now you'll just have to get used to the idea that you are going to take a backseat to foot fungus.
Personally, I blame Global Humidity.
Too many people, too close together.
All sweaty and damp and filthy.
Didn't any of you notice the smell?
*SNIP*.

see, that's why I know I;ll make it. all you folks shoved into that tiny city no wonder there are problems. they'd probably have about 5,000 people on the area that is my farm, no wonder everyone stinks.

[recluse]

Says the lady who bathes with cats and live fish.

[GeoffC]

Now my ISP say they can block it, if I follow the link provided I can block it from there. The link is to "How to establish Firewall in Windows XP on your PC" ....

Pppppppfffffffttttt .....

How else am I to know there is an attack unless I have firewalls in place at my end.....(and there was me thinking, the government wants ISPs to police our use of the Internet, and the ISPs can't stop what is a known bot address!)

okay, onwards, upwards and into the realms of fantasy.....

[devilsadvocate]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Now my ISP say they can block it, if I follow the link provided I can block it from there. The link is to "How to establish Firewall in Windows XP on your PC" ....

Mean.

To be fair, most ISP techs are trained to start with lowest-common-denominator types who don't know their LAN from their WAN (they just loooooove me ), but that's like leaving a nickel tip for a waitress instead of just leaving nothing at all.

I'd just block it at the firewall and tell 'em thanks for nothing.

[kindlekitten]

Originally Posted by recluse

Says the lady who bathes with cats and live fish.

silly man!!! I just loan out my tub to them! I don't share at the same time!

[dsvick]

Originally Posted by recluse

...who bathes with cats ....

There are easier ways to commit suicide - especially given the size of the claws on KKs cats!

[pilotbob]

I wish my mom would stop calling the Kindle I got her for her birthday a "Nook"...

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I wish my mom would stop calling the Kindle I got her for her birthday a "Nook"...

As someone who recently sold his Nook, I can appreciate that!

[pilotbob]

Seriously... trying to decide on what set of poker chips to buy is mind numbing chore. I want a decent set that will stack well... but they quickly get expensive.... I want the $1 a chip ones, but my wallet doesn't.

There are so many choices and hard to buy sight unseen... and everyone that reviews them has different opinions.

ARGH!

BOb

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by devilsadvocate

I'd just block it at the firewall and tell 'em thanks for nothing.

If it wasn't for the firewall I would know about it !!!!
but your comment is more or less what I replied....

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I wish my mom would stop calling the Kindle I got her for her birthday a "Nook"...

She could have called it a "Liseuse"

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Seriously... trying to decide on what set of poker chips to buy is mind numbing chore. I want a decent set that will stack well... but they quickly get expensive.... I want the $1 a chip ones, but my wallet doesn't.

There are so many choices and hard to buy sight unseen... and everyone that reviews them has different opinions.

ARGH!

BOb

Seems like you need to bluff your way through that game.....

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by devilsadvocate

I've had it go months without changing, and I've had it change 3 times in as many weeks; that was all with the same ISP, and it was cable. Not super long ago either. Of course it can go either way, and I have no idea how that whole thing works in the UK, other than very slowly (from what I hear).

I'm sure it can differ by ISP. But mine is serving me an IP address via DHCP from their allocated block, and one I have one, there isn't going to be a lot of need for it to change, unless they reshuffle address blocks for some reason.

When I first got my DSL account, I had a static address, and was interested in putting up a private server under Linux I could get to from outside. I got email from an ISP tech saying "You didn't here this from me, but..." and providing the URL of a guy on their network who had done exactly that and put up instructions on how he got their DSL working on a Linux box.

That's impressive; he actually got to the source. Most of the vengeful types just run into the spambot machines. Then again you did say he was a kiddie.

Most vengeful types aren't Steve Gibson with more tech credentials than half of the world combined.

The fact is, the cops won't get the guy who cut you off in traffic the other day, and the ISPs likewise can't police the world. I personally wouldn't expect them to.

Nor would I. There was a thread on a Linux forum a while back where the poster thought ISPs should do things like block viruses. I tried to point out that doing so would require deep packet inspection, peering in the packets to attempt to figure out what the content was, and that would be a major performance hit at the very least. Do you really want your ISP to snoop in your packets and try to identify just what you're sending?

Some years ago when I still ran Windows full-time, I also ran Sygate (before MS bought it and ran it into the ground). I have to admit seeing the log auto-update with the endless stream of seemingly random pings and aborted connection attempts was sobering. It was one of my many "I gotta do something about this" moments which contributed to my switching to Linux.

It wasn't MS, it was Symantec. And they didn't run it into the ground. They just killed it off to reduce competition to their Norton product.

I still run the last freeware version. It does what I want, and has the best interface I've seen. (I've looked at most of the firewall products.) It gets knocked for failing "leak tests", but those all assume you've been compromised by something that will try to disable or bypass the firewall and phone home, and tests the ability of the firewall to withstand it. I find it easier to simply not get compromised, and am not concerned.

I was literally starting the install of IPFire on a spare box when I saw a response on this thread. Mine will go gateway > router > wireless router (gotta love multiple subnets) when it's done. Wireless is WPA2-AES with a 256-bit key; if anyone has a notion of brute-forcing it they'd better bring some coffee because it'll be awhile.

They'll drink a lot of coffee. I think I saw one estimate of how long a brute force attack would take that was longer than the estimated remaining life of the universe.

Mine is gateway->wireless router. I had a second wireless router in the loop a while back for a different reason: I had one device I wanted to connect occasionally that didn't do WPA, only WEP. So I set the second router up as an access point, passing everything to the main router, which served IP addresses. The oddball device authenticated to the second router with 128 bit WEP, and I had MAC address filters turned on so that only it and my desktop were allowed to connect to it. The main router treated the second router as a trusted host, so the oddball device could attach using WEP when everything else was WPA2. And when the oddball device wasn't connected, the second router was turned off. Technically not 100% secure, but in practice, I didn't worry.
______
Dennis