26 Mar 2006
A Sad Milestone

You may recall my post from January 23rd of this year, where I described a new tool I'd just installed on the server called DenyHosts. This morning when I checked my mail I noticed it had reached a milestone.

In a little over 2 months it had stopped 100 attacks on the server - script kiddies trying illegal logins. In the "brick and mortar" world this would be analogous to a hundred potential burglars walking up and wiggling your front door to see if it's locked. In two months.

I'm pretty sure there's not a city on earth where that would happen, but it happens in cyberspace. All the time. Why? Is it because the crooks believe they're safer in cyberspace? (Surprise: I log IP's and refer the attempts to the IP or netblock owner.) Is is because fewer servers lock their doors than do apartment dwellers? Or it is just that other crimes (i.e. shoplifting) are easier and thus more prevalent in the real world?

I'm actually considering moving the login port for the main server away from the standard to a more obscure location, just to keep my log files from filling with DenyHosts reports.

A sad milestone, indeed.

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