Re: distributed.net and seti@home

[robertw () WOJO COM (Robert Wojciechowski Jr.)]

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Seth R Arnold [SMTP:sarnold () WILLAMETTE EDU]
> Reply To:     Seth R Arnold [SMTP:sarnold () WILLAMETTE EDU]
> Sent: Friday, January 28, 2000, 21:41:04
> To:   VULN-DEV () SECURITYFOCUS COM
> Subject:      distributed.net and seti@home
>
> Hello.
>
> I have seen many reports of insecurities of ICQ, and while this is A Good
> Thing, a program that would likely be in use on more computers is
> distributed.net's rc5 (or other) programs, or seti@home's client. They are
> often installed by default on server farms, lab machines, as well as
> countless home machines.
>
> Has anyone taken a close look at these programs? I sure haven't. It might
> be
> a good thing to check on... :)
>
> ----- End Of Original Message -----

Seth,

I think that programs such as the distributed.net and seti@home clients
don't have open ports, they just contact the servers when they need more
blocks to process, and send blocks to the servers when complete.

I haven't checked myself if there are open ports (someone can find this out
easily by viewing what ports are open on their computer in listen mode), but
I doubt there are.

Anyone care to check?

Robert S. Wojciechowski Jr.
robertw () wojo com