RE: Comcast Cable Setup Security Issue

["Lopez, Jason (ISS Southfield)" <JLopez () iss net>]

The only thing Comcast requires is to hook up a cable modem and "register" the modem's Mac address with Comcast. I'd 
definitely go with a separate router and/or firewall to switch to local (V)LAN. The Comcast CD-Rom isn't the solution. 
In order to make things simple, Comcast techs will tell you to turn off everything just to get hooked up, but this is 
only a step in the process, not the solution.

I found that most tech support from Comcast comes in the form of canned responses.

-----Original Message-----
From: Gandalf The White [mailto:gandalf () digital net]
Sent: Monday, July 19, 2004 02:14
To: security-basics () securityfocus com
Subject: Comcast Cable Setup Security Issue


Greetings and Salutations:

I am beginning to get a feel for why Comcast is at the top of the list for
zombie spam boxes.

I just set up an account for a friend who had a connection on the Comcast
cable network.

The instructions on the included CD-ROM (as soon as the CD started up) was
to turn off all Anti-Virus and Firewall software on the computer.  I called
up Comcast tech support and told them that I was I was nervous about doing
this, but I was assured that my computer would *only* be talking to the
Comcast activation server.  Lets just ignore that the computer would be
talking to all the other machines on my local cable segment also.

I had a router with firewall in between the computer and the Comcast network
so I went ahead and deactivated the anti-virus and firewall software on the
computer.

I got half way through the activation and all of the sudden the process
dies.  Claimed I could not reach the HTTPS server or that I had not
activated within the time allowed.  I tried everything to start up the
process again with no success.

Called Comcast tech support.  The tech (he was very efficient and nice) told
me to DISCONNECT THE COMPUTER FROM THE ROUTER AND PLUG THE COMPUTER DIRECTLY
INTO THE CABLE MODEM.  This made me EXTREMELY nervous.  I now have a
computer (that was patched and up to date of course) ... BUT ... The
antivirus and personal firewall software was PURPOSEFULLY turned off.  By
Comcast instructions.  He walked me through connecting to the Comcast
website and finishing up the activation steps.  I tried (in the middle of
his instructions) to ask if I could hook back into my router for a modicum
of protection and was told no, I had to finish the setup.

When I finished the setup (again, he was very nice and pleasant) I rebooted,
hooked the computer back to the router/firewall, verified my antivirus and
firewall were working and indeed everything worked fine.

Being a computer / security professional I was (of course) thinking about
all the very bad things that could happen to this computer while following
Comcast's instructions.

I know (and I think it is almost criminal) that many cable companied hook
PC's up to a cable modem *all the time* without antivirus / firewall /
updates / any kind of protection.  But you would think that an installation
would not require you to take away any kind of protection that a computer
has.  I can see some overzealous PC owner deleting the anti-virus and
firewall software just to get their cable modem working.

Ken

---------------------------------------------------------------
Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards for they are subtle and
quick to anger.
Ken Hollis - Gandalf The White - gandalf () digital net - O- TINLC
WWW Page - http://digital.net/~gandalf/
Trace E-Mail forgery - http://digital.net/~gandalf/spamfaq.html
Trolls crossposts - http://digital.net/~gandalf/trollfaq.html


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to facilitate one-on-one interaction with one of our expert instructors.
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