Re: sniffing plaintext protocols

["itsec.info" <itsec.info () gmail com>]

On Monday 31 July 2006 21:38, Dotzero wrote:
> On 7/31/06, Shreyas Zare <shreyasonline () yahoo com> wrote:
> > Its possible if and only if you lie on the same
> > network. The network may be private/internet. You must
> > be connected to the same pipe.
>
> Simply not a true statement. I'll give one example as an illustration.
>
> User A at IP address 172.16.1.1 connects to a remote host foo.com
> using telnet by entering "telnet foo.com" from a command prompt which
> would normally connect to 192.168.1.1 (using RFC 1918 addresses rather
> than real ones).
>
> Evil person B has access to a router that is in the path between user
> A and the telnet server for foo.com. Evil person B sets up a span port
> and sniffs traffic to his hearts content....including the telnet
> session. Note that evil person B is not on the same network segment as
> either of the endpoints. Obviously, this is a simplified and contrived
> example that ignores asymetric routing, etc.
From a security point of view it is a fundamental question whether such a 
scenario is technically possible or not.
If so, how do I have to assess such a risk, how can I check that at a 
penetration test and how about the mitigation.

--
I am looking forward to discussing it.
Regards,
Mike

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