Security Incidents mailing list archives

RE: Odd scans and stuff bouncing off firewalls


From: woods () weird com (Greg A. Woods)
Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 15:01:36 -0400 (EDT)

[ On Tuesday, August 13, 2002 at 09:57:33 (-0700), Steve Vawter wrote: ]
Subject: RE: Odd scans and stuff bouncing off firewalls

Another reason (other than using the numbers for cash) that I can see is 
that they might better help decipher where an attack that made it 
through the filters came from. If you only have the few packets that 
made it through to use to backtrack to an attacker, it may be harder to 
find them.

But, of course, without the right data filters, finding the pattern in 
the chaos is near impossible sometimes...

The "normal chaos" is only part of the problem.  A well executed attack
may very well re/miss-direct your response to exactly the wrong source,
giving the real attacker even more time to disappear into the wires....

Unless the suspected source happens to have logged the very same traffic
(or the attacker is just asking to get caught) then it's still in this
day and age impossible to use source addresses and other such indicators
as any even remotely reliable means of idenifying the source of any real
attack.

-- 
                                                                Greg A. Woods

+1 416 218-0098;            <g.a.woods () ieee org>;           <woods () robohack ca>
Planix, Inc. <woods () planix com>; VE3TCP; Secrets of the Weird <woods () weird com>

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