RE: Am I still vulnerable to attack?

[Craig Wright <Craig.Wright () bdo com au>]

Simple answer - yes - no matter what you are ALWAYS vulnerable to an attack.

This is the wrong question, what is needed is to ask HOW vulnerable am I to an attack. So the subject is wrong but the 
text of the question is ok. Botnets equal money. As a consequence, people will try to load code. Most malware requires 
only small changes to escape anti-virus scanners.

It you have SSL, then outgoing connections will allow the shovelling of a shell to control internal hosts.

More information is needed to assess risk then you have given.

Regards,
Craig Wright (GSE-Compliance)


Craig Wright
Manager of Information Systems

Direct : +61 2 9286 5497
Craig.Wright () bdo com au
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-----Original Message-----

From: listbounce () securityfocus com [mailto:listbounce () securityfocus com] On Behalf Of mgk.mailing
Sent: Tuesday, 4 March 2008 9:30 PM
To: cdunn () foxwood notts sch uk
Cc: security-basics () securityfocus com
Subject: Re: Am I still vulnerable to attack?

Hi Craig

You didn't mention anything about a firewall.  Do you have one?  is it
administered by yourself or someone offsite?  I'm assuming the proxy is
being used outbound for webfiltering and such? but you  don't mention
anything about inbound traffic.  The short answer is that yes you will
always be vulnerable but you can reduce the risks :) (the biggest being
from kids in your school).

/mgk (an ex school pupil who liked using the admin's account before
taking up a job at an educational facility (for my sins))

ps have you considered downloading a copy of backtrack or similar and
running some tests against your network?

cdunn () foxwood notts sch uk wrote:
> Hi,
>
>
> I work in a school in nottingham, UK we access the internet via the EMBC who inter-connect all schools and colleges 
> to the internet. The EMBC manage our site blocking and spam filters for E-Mail. The proxy we use to access the net is 
> heavily filtered and all un-used ports are closed, making an attack as far as I can see VERY difficult.
>
>
> My question is just how vulnerable is our school network? is there still potential there for an attack to take place? 
> or would this be so difficult and the rewards to few for an attacker to bother?
>
>
> Thanks
>
>
> Craig Dunn