Re: [cobalt-users] Proactive action against hack attempts

[Diana Brake <diana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Rick,

I read your message to the list and haven't answered personally because you 
know more than I do now...:) But just to encourage you on your learning 
quest, I truly believe that it is important to have this stuff buttoned 
down as much as possible. I say this with a new sense of urgency because 
last night for the first time, someone tried to gain access to both of my 
servers by using the admin ID and guessing at a password. They weren't very 
persistent but the fact that they tried both machines makes me think they 
were serious.

I reported this to two places...came from an ISP in Texas...and the IP 
controller that was based in Atlanta. The Atlanta people wrote and said 
they have had several other complaints from the same service so they were 
quite helpful and promised to do what was necessary.

I don't always get personal answers to these reports I make but it's very 
gratifying when someone does reply.

So, yes, I report them if they are persistent....hitting multiple IPs in 
just seconds, or using a known ID...like just happened.

Now I'm glad my admin ID has no shell access anymore. Gaining FTP access 
would be bad enough but even if someone did, they couldn't get shell access 
and root has no FTP rights....*grin...I feel good.

see ya,
Diana
Crest Communications, Inc.		diana@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Beautiful Sunny Florida		http://crestcommunications.com/
352-495-9359, 425-732-9785 fax