Re: Pen testing / Vuln Assessment from Cable Modem - question on service provider selection

["R. DuFresne" <dufresne () sysinfo com>]

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On Wed, 20 Jun 2007, Morgan Reed wrote:

> On 6/20/07, Tommy May <tommymay () comcast net> wrote:
> > Issue - A standard nessus scan or nmap will choke my service from a 
> > standard home based cable modem service.
>
> You will not likely find anybody who will be willing to allow this.
>
> > I need to have a solid provider that is "used to dealing with pen-test like 
> > customer businesses"... is there someone that you all may be able to 
> > recommend that won't cost an arm and a leg and will meet the requirements? 
> > (i.e. one that's home based, allows it to happen, has pen-testing 
> > customers. and doesn't cost any more than 100.00 a month).
>
> I highly doubt you will find one.


Actually, it can be done, I have with a couple of different ISP's in a 
couple of different states over time.  Best luck is with smaller mom/pop 
shops whom you have developed a good working relationship with.  YMMV...


Of course, bandwidth as well as RAM on the modem/router is a restriction 
as well.  This can be worked around, though, it often calls for off hours 
testing and launching a scan and heading to bed while it completes 
<smile>.  Most cable business contracts start at about $150+ a month 
though.

And if I recall over the years, comcast was one of the most restrictive 
cable providers as well.


> > Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.
>
> My best suggestion would be to find a permissive shell account or get
> a co-lo server with it's own connection and use that (I have a root
> shell on a tier 2 system that I use for these activities).
>
> You're unlikely to find any ISP who will do this for you so your best
> bet is to go up a tier or two and get an unrestricted connection
> attached to a remote server, you'll still have to read the contracts
> carefully though.



co-los are a good way to go and one can go in with others on a co-lo 
server setup to help divide costs.  ISP's with shell access are not as 
common as they were about 15 or so years back...


Thanks,

Ron DuFresne
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