NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] AT&T, they can share your data but they can't block a port
I've been in similar situations to what's described below. Ordinary
Internet consumers don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting
anybody to do anything about DDoS or other attacks most of the time.
IF you know the right people to call "outside normal channels" you
might have a small shot at it.
This is all a consequence of the total collapse of any sort of
effective central information and technical coordination for the
Internet per se.
Making matters even worse, the turning of WHOIS "privacy" and
anonymous domains into cash cow profit centers for registrars
has made it frequently impossible to even contact the source
of accidental problems (like misconfigurations flooding the
wrong network) directly.
And good blankin' luck calling a big ISP about misbehavior by one of
their subscribers! Even assuming you can find the right number to
call at the ISP, the likely response will be, "You're not our
customer, we can't talk to you about another customer anyway!" Oh,
unless you want to file a DMCA takedown notice -- for that they'll
usually move quickly.
There's no real need to worry quite so much about "Cyber-Terror"
bringing down the Internet. "Cyber-Stupidity" is already far more
capable in that regard.
--Lauren--
NNSquad Moderator
----- Forwarded message from Bo Gusman <mlist@bogusville.us> -----
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:38:50 -0800
From: Bo Gusman <mlist@bogusville.us>
Subject: AT&T, they can share your data but they can't block a port
Dunno if this is worth a comment but I thought I'd pass it on to you.
I noticed what appeared to be a DDoS attack against my servers last night
on port 11076. Some 71K+ distinct IPs all trying to make some sort of
tcp/udp connection (over 230K of them) to my poor box. Thank goodness for
IPTABLES, but I figured, why should I have to worry about this? I'll just
call AT&T DSL support and have them block the port.
After wading through tier 1 support (what a pain trying to convince them
that I really DO know more than they do!), tier 2 told me the most
incredible thing: nobody there knows how to block a port other than 25.
I'm on my own, they said. You invented the freakin' Internet, I said.
Sorry, anything else we can help you with, they said. You haven't yet
helped me, I said.
Incredible, simply incredible.
Two morals:
1 - they're absolutely knowledgeable about how to share your data with Big
Brother, but they can't protect you against the denizens of the net.
2 - it's time for a new ISP.
Sean
----- End forwarded message -----