paypal scam - tracing link

[A.Fadyushin at it-centre.ru]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: redhat-install-list-bounces at redhat.com
[mailto:redhat-install-list-
> bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Waldher, Travis R
> Sent: Monday, October 30, 2006 6:57 PM
> To: Getting started with Red Hat Linux
> Subject: RE: paypal scam - tracing link
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: mylar [mailto:micros50 at computer.net]
> > Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2006 4:08 PM
> > To: Getting started with Red Hat Linux
> > Subject: RE: paypal scam - tracing link
> >
> > Thanks, I'm gonna give this a try. I've been noticing ssh attempts
> > increasing  here lately Time to kick em out.
> >
> > mylah
> >
> 
> A few things:
> 
> 1) passwords, make sure they aren't crackable or guessable.
> 
> A good password is alphanumeric with different cases and at LEAST 8-10
> characters but spells something to help you remember.
> 
> A great password is 15+ characters long, alphanumeric with different
> cases, if the OS supports it special ASCII characters, AND spells
> nothing.
> 
> For example:
> "mypassword" is a bad password - easily cracked
> "myp at s5w0rD" is an good/ok password - harder to crack but doable
> "78D0fi3w4%^xeD1" is a great password. - crackable but takes a LONG
> time.
> 
> Next change your passwords at LEAST every 90-180 days.  In the last
> case, it's going to take more than 45-90 days to crack that password.
> That's assuming they have supercomputers or clusters at their finger
> tips.  So if you change them often enough, by the time they crack (or
> guess) it, it's already changed.
> 
> 2) SSH - force to run version 2. (Rick can you remember why?  My
> caffeine hasn't kicked in yet)
> 
> 3) Disable other access methods, rlogin, rexec, telnet, etc.  Tunnel
all
> X traffic over SSH.  Otherwise, all of those methods send
> usernames/passwords in clear text.
> 
> 4) If the machine has been hacked.  Take it off the network and
> investigate what they could have accessed.  After that, hit the power
> button, remove the hard disk.  First dunk it in liquid nitrogen, then
> douse it in gasoline and light it on fire; followed by running it over
> with a Mac truck, optionally shoot it a few times, finish it off by
> sending it through a chipper.
> 
> Seriously if the machine has been compromised, it is best to take it
> down, reformat it several times, I prefer either a low-level or
> overwriting with 1's and 0's. (ok I'm paranoid) After this is done
> rebuild it.  Why? Without extensive work, you won't know for sure what
> they put where.

5) You can also use one-time passwords - it would give even better
protection from password guessing and cracking.

6) If you are using SSH you can completely disable SSH password
authentication and use keys (protected by password on your local
workstation) to log in. In this case it would be impossible to guess you
password by attempting to login into server via SSH. In this case the
server does not use the password for authentication and the key
protection password newer exists outside your workstation.

Alexey B. Fadyushin
Brainbench MVP for Linux.
http://www.brainbench.com