Security Basics mailing list archives

Re: Am I still vulnerable to attack?


From: "John Ballard" <john.ballard00 () gmail com>
Date: Wed, 5 Mar 2008 01:56:54 -0500

This coming from a former student in HS, there is (or was at least) a
lovely little program call cgi-proxy. It allowed anonymous web
browsing just by typing in the URL into it's custom text box. This is
one of the ways students get access to websites that may be blocked by
the school. If this presents a hazard, I would suggest looking into
it. My $.02.
John

On Tue, Mar 4, 2008 at 6:07 PM, Craig Wright <Craig.Wright () bdo com au> wrote:

 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)


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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
 >




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