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Re: security on Dial-up Systems
> Do hackers really look for home computers connected with dynamic IP to
> crack
> into?
OK, i guess its time for the war stories to come out... ;-)
here's my own -
It was not so long ago, i was using my trusty Linux machine to irc on
the #linux channel on EFNet when someone i didn't know messaged me with
the word: "bye". I was very puzzled,, but by the time i typed /whois my
system hard drive started to REALLY make weird noises. I tried to ps -ax
to see what's going on, but i didn't got any response, so i just shut
the machine off on the spot.
Lucky for me, the rm -rf / command the SOB executed didn't finish.
Unlucky for him, it didn't get the /var/log/ directory yet. I had his IP
address, and in two minutes i found out that it it is a dynamic IP
address belonging to an ISP from Argentina.
I called the Israeli Police Computer Crimes department (those of us who
knows them are asked to stop laughing... ;-)
They were very nice. They even knew what an IP was (sort of). They wrote
down my complaint and it ended there - they didn't have any authority in
Argentina (I ended up helping them setting their own Linux machine btw
;-)
Bottom line -Hackaers don't break into dynamic IP connected computers,
but stupid little kids who wannabe c00l dUdEs might find some source
code on the net (the break to my computer where made using a piece code
that was available from the "right" sites on the net) and misuse it to
"have fun".
If you value your machine, several security minded decisions are
certainly in place, like keeping up with the latest versions of stuff
(as I didn't). However, someone just trying to telnet in is not really a
cause for alarm. If you have good passwords.
Have fun,
--
Gilad Ben-Yossef <pbril@ix.netcom.com>
Gtek Technologies / PBR
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