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Hi All,
I wanted to know what are the possible threats to my box (on the network) when somebody malicious comes to know of my ip. How could he/she/they use it to hack my system? What are the precautions i can take in this regard? I deal with Mac, Linux and Windows machines. Any leads would be welcome.
Thanks in advance.
DA007
I wanted to add that the machines are connected to a DHCP based ethernet LAN. The machines are Mac(MacOS 9.1), Linux (RH 7.1) and Windows (XP and 98).
Thanks
well that all depends on how well your sys admin is doing your job and wheatehr he has blocked all the ports that need to be done and pached all that needs to be patched u should be fine
Do you have a static IP our are you automatically assigned one by your ISP?
It would be a good idea to use an old 486 as a rooter/firewall. The ideal would be to run Free/OpenBSD on the box and harden it.
If in any doubts, disconnect the box, install Tripwire, LIDS and, most important of all, check the logs.
Changing the root password regularly can help as well, same with denying telnet/ftp and other services.
Well considering you have a DHCP server i would guess ur IP address is dynamic. but still an IP address is very dangerous especially if the box is not secured.. like RiOtEr said.. it all depends on your administrator..
but once ur IP address is picked up by a malicious person, you are a target, he knows where you are, so your option is change ur ip address by either manually doing it through DOS or restarting your PC.. and relogging into the network.
As a result the DHCP server will assign you a new IP address..
Do you have a router/firewall? Are you using NAT? Do you have a static ip? Have you updated all the patches on all the machines on your network? Are you running any servers? If so, what os? What about IIS? Depending on your setup, you could be vulnerable to anything from a DoS attack, to a full takeover of all your machines.
Hi Agn,
Thank you all for your replies. I do not know what the sysadmin does but systems here are getting hacked all the time. Your suggestions of a firewall and proxy are most welcome and i will implement them but i wanted to know and understand the mechanics of how a system can be compromised using just its ip (e.g. a Win98 box).
Thanks agn,
DA007
Well if they know your ip number then someone like the little dick heads of today that call them, self hackers just just put it into a b02k program and have complete control of your computer if you don't have any security on it so that is one way they can hack you
Two forms of attack are a Ddos and possibly a buffer overflow if you are running an exploitable app. A dos attack will flood you with so many icmp packets that you can't send or recieve the information you want. A buffer overflow would allow someone to overflow an unwatched buffer and overwrite the programer's original code with his own..in a certain respect he will "own you". irc.antionline.com is a cool IRC channel because your IP is hashed(although it can be discovered).
WOW, thats a huge questions. Way, way too many answers lol. But the short of it is, there is no overall security that you employ, you
have to concentrate on each aspect of your network. The workstation OS's, make sure they are patched and read up on the security issues
for those specific OS's. Look at a firewall solution for your head end to the internet. And there are security issues on software too. Email,
dhcp, dns, ect, ect. Your hubs/switches/routers on the network, read up on your manufacture recomendations for those pieces of hardware.
Make sure you have good passwords on EVERYTHING. (workstations, servers, printers, hubs, routers, switches, etc etc)
min of 8 characters with a mix of upper and lower cases. There are whole libraries on security issues and forums (Anti Online, etc), and and
and and lol. Better start reading d00d!