RE: Securing webmail - changing a port necessary to ensure security?

["Thiago Lima" <thiagolima () webforce com br>]

        Security thru obscurity is never a good solution. Even if you change
the port to 20000, if someone portscan your machine it will find your
webmail.

        And if your webmail have much access from diferent clients at
diferent points you may end up with someone that can't access your webmail
because the administrator of a LAN that your client is connected (and trying
to access the webmail) blocked outgoing traffic to unkown ports.

        Resume: stay with 443, but ensure that all software are updated,
keep some security polices and run a security scaner (like nessus) from time
to time.

Regards
Thiago.



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jennifer Fountain [mailto:jfountain () rbinc com] 
> Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2004 1:03 PM
> To: security-basics () securityfocus com
> Subject: Securing webmail - changing a port necessary to 
> ensure security?
>
> I am going back and forth on this one with a consultant on 
> this one and need an expert opinion.  So, I turn to you :)  
> When configuring webemail (such as owa) that is using https, 
> is it better to change the default port (443) to an uncommon 
> port (20000)for security reasons?  Does it secure it further 
> by doing this?  Wouldn't it cause more issues than anything if 
> you try to access that site from inside an org that only 
> allows port 80/443 and 21 out?  
>
> Thank you in advance for any opinions you may share.
>
> Kind Regards,
>
> Jennifer Fountain
>
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