🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <B6740234.2F556%no-spam@RadioMonopoly.com>, no-spam@RadioMonopoly.com 
(John Higdon) writes...
> in article 867l4hrybw.fsf@cartero.kjsl.com, Javier Henderson  wrote:
> 
> > Do they probe once in a while, or are they really persistant
> > to the point of being disruptive?
> 
> The probe consists of an attempt to send about fifteen messages through the
> server to a test host. These messages are spaced over a twenty minute
> period. If the server is properly configured, the data (message body) is
> never even accepted, so the load is miniscule to say the least. The test is
> repeated after about a four-day interval. A minimum of six months elapses
> before a retest.
> 
> > Keep in mind there's a lot of servers hosted at above.net, so
> > ORBS activity could account for a lot of overall traffic.
> 
> Not hardly. If those tests could overload anyone's server, it shouldn't be
> on the net to begin with.


There are a significant group of people in the sysadmin and/or
computer security field that consider simple network scanning
to be a malicious act - indeed there has been (to my knowledge)
some degree of effort to criminalize such activities - ie 
port scanning.

It is also well-established net.etiquette that probing systems
external to you without any intention of actually engaging in
the transfer of information is at the least a somewhat rude
act - particularly when you are doing it without the permission
of the target network.

So I don't think anyone in their right mind would ever try to
claim that something like ORBS probes are "denial of service",
but there are quite a few people that consider it at the very
least "rude" and perhaps even "malicious".

I will add that since ORBS by their own admission simply scans
for servers which "may potentially be used for spam" rather
than servers which have any proven association with it -- the
repeated scanning of servers which have proven - over and over
again - to be NOT vulnerable.. is easily taken as an unecessary
and even abusive practice.


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