Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 22:49:31 -0700 (MST) From: Dave Andersen <angio@aros.net> To: ANDRSN@HOOVER.STANFORD.EDU (Annelise Anderson) Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: ethernet packet sniffer. Message-ID: <199601180549.WAA00030@terra.aros.net> In-Reply-To: <01I04NDA9KTU00BJ0X@HOOVER.STANFORD.EDU> from "Annelise Anderson" at Jan 17, 96 07:55:39 pm
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Lo and behold, Annelise Anderson once said:
> > (Someone else said this next statement)
> >It's worse than that. Anyone w/ an ethernet connection on your net
> >can read everything going in or out, not just sysadmins or those with
> >root priviledges on your machine. If you're really worried about
> >security, there's encrypted rlogin and pgp encryption for mail.
>
> Anyone with an ethernet connection on "my net" can read everything
> (or log it and read it later, search for key words, send it to
> someone else, etc....)
>
> Question: what's "my net"? How do I find out? Is there anything
> like, say, a radar detector that determines if anyone else is doing
> this on "my net"?
Your net is any area to which all of your ethernet packets propagate
(this typically means all of the computers attached to the same ethernet
as the computer in question). Generally, packets will be sent
indiscriminately through most ethernet hubs unless they're specifically
switched ethernet hubs, some bridges, etc. Anything beyond your router
is (generally) not part of "your net".
The gist of it is that in many ways, the security of your network
depends in great part on the security of your weakest host -- if someone
can gain access to any host on your network, they can monitor the traffic
to/from all of the hosts on your local network.
I'm not familiar with anything that would let you detect packet
monitoring, because it's a passive thing; just make sure nobody has
unauthorized root access to any of the machines on your network (programs
such as tripwire, a good backup schedule, etc).
> Annelise
-Dave Andersen
--
angio@aros.net Complete virtual hosting and business-oriented
system administration Internet services. (WWW, FTP, email)
http://www.aros.net/ http://www.aros.net/about/virtual/
"There are only two industries that refer to thier customers as 'users'."
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199601180549.WAA00030>