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Thread: Cable broadband...

  1. April 17th, 2004, 08:50 PM #1
    bluthund
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    Cable broadband...


    People that have cable television often have their internet service piggyback on that cable.
    Somehow that strikes me as a bus-topology, and users have to share the available bandwidth
    with others on that segment. So, with that in mind, doesn't it stand to reason that installing a network analyzer on your box and placing your NIC in promiscuous mode, that it would be quite easy to monitor traffic of that cable segment. Are these inherent weaknesses of cable, and are there safeguards to protect users against such abuse?
    Just wondering...

    g8way2u
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  2. April 17th, 2004, 08:59 PM #2
    Tiger Shark
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    My understanding is that the cable modem itself is the filter that doesn't allow traffic through to the internal computer unless it is for the specific IP address. I have never tested that theory though so I could be wrong..... I really don't care what my neighbors can do.....
    Don\'t SYN us.... We\'ll SYN you.....
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  3. April 17th, 2004, 09:19 PM #3
    kr5kernel
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    There was a story on securityfocus a while back:

    http://www.securityfocus.com/news/7977

    This articled spoke about guys uncapping the filters in cable modems and sniffin around...so much for sharing bandwidth when you can handle the routing....
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  4. April 17th, 2004, 09:42 PM #4
    KorpDeath
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    You can see all the traffic on your segment. The cable modem (misnomer) does not filter anything.
    But tell me what good it's going to do you? So you're eavesdroping on Joe Shmoley, next door.....who cares. There will be a bunch of web traffic and instant messaging traffic. Whoopee!!
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  5. April 17th, 2004, 10:38 PM #5
    Tiger Shark
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    Korp: Gee.... thanks..... Now I have to determine if my neighbors can see my pr0n surfing.... Something else I really don't want to have to spend time doing.....
    Don\'t SYN us.... We\'ll SYN you.....
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  6. April 18th, 2004, 12:02 AM #6
    moxnix
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    Now it is probably a good deal that Tiger and me will never be on the same segment of cable. I can see it now -- "The Porn Wars ". He steals mine and I try to steal his.....
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  7. April 18th, 2004, 01:29 AM #7
    bluthund
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    Well, I think that I have to disagree with KorpDeath. It is quite possible to sniff passwords
    and even the occasional PIN # off neighbor traffic. Next, a little bit of dumpster diving; gotta sort through my neighbors trash and see what kinda goodies are ripe for the pickin'. Maybe
    some old bills, who knows. Sure the majority of the traffic will be plain old browsing, but it also depends on what type of neighborhood you live in. This is all highly illegal, off course, but there are folks out there that just don't care about that.
    Nevertheless, the idea...

    edit: OK, so maybe not...(just read the full article), but does anyone have some cheap old MAU's. Who knows, maybe a thinnet NIC might get some packets. Might be some use for all that old junk.LOL

    g8way2u
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