Re: Comcast Cable Setup Security Issue

[James Kelly <jim () essistants com>]

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I don't know what was up with this guys set up... this is what you get
for following the instructions.  I just plugged in my cable modem,
plugged that into my home made linux router.... then from there plugged
the internal nic into my switch.  I proceeded to throw that cd away.

As far using your own modem, yeah I bought mine.  You just have to call
them and give them some info in regards to the modem.

All in all I have had good experiences with comcast.

Jim

dave kleiman wrote:
| Ken,
|
| You actually have to install software to utilize Comcast's cable network?
|
| So in your scenario, where you removed the Router installed and
reconnected,
| if you add/switch computers behind the router do you have to
| install/reinstall?
|
| You have no option to use your own cable modem?
|
| Vote Adelphia, and no I do not work them.
|
|
|
| ______________________________________
| Dave Kleiman, CISSP, CISM, CIFI, MCSE
| www.SecurityBreachResponse.com
|
|
|
|
| -----Original Message-----
| From: Gandalf The White [mailto:gandalf () digital net]
| Sent: Sunday, July 18, 2004 22:14
| 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
|
|
|
|
- 
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|
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|
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Ethical Hacking at the InfoSec Institute. Mention this ad and get $545 off 
any course! All of our class sizes are guaranteed to be 10 students or less 
to facilitate one-on-one interaction with one of our expert instructors. 
Attend a course taught by an expert instructor with years of in-the-field 
pen testing experience in our state of the art hacking lab. Master the skills 
of an Ethical Hacker to better assess the security of your organization. 
Visit us at: 
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