Internet hacking

[P5-133XL]

Well, I think (hope) I made someone unhappy. My internet provider (Comcast) just told me they would do something (within a couple of hours) about another local Comcast user (only two away from my IP address) that is repeatedly (a hundred times every hour or so) querying a variety of ports on my IP address.

I'm reasonably certain that whomever it was did not penetrate my network. It wasn't frequent enough to be a Denial-of-service attack. Rather it was annoying because it kept causing my router to email its log as it kept filling up. Then there's the assumption that if that person is attempting to penetrate my system, then it is likely that that person is doing it to others as well.

My experience with Comcast security was nothing but pleasant. An intial phone call, where I explained the problem and recieved a request for a copy of the log. followed by a phone call within 30 minutes of receiving the log saying that the behavior will be stopped within a couple of hours.

Previous communications with other security divisions from other companies have been much less satisfying. Typically it has be a response of totally ignoring the communication or a response days later. Comcast surprised me!

 

[ddrueding]

Probably a 90% chance of it not being the user, but rather a compromised machine, doing the hacking.

Didn't Comcast recently say they would be contacting subscribers whose machines were likely compromised? Unplug-em is what I say...

 

[P5-133XL]

I would definitely agree that it is most likely a compromised machine. However, I do have information on my network that is confidential enough that I can't allow outside access. So I am serious about keeping it secure.

My assumptions was that they would lock out the modem, and then force the customer to call them to get it back online. If it was just notification, via popup, then they would not have assured me that it would be stopped within a couple of hours.

I just checked my router log and aprox. 1:15 minutes ago, the continuous attempts to access from that particular IP address had ceased.

 

[MaxBurn]

Cool, sounds like they are doing something about it.

 

[P5-133XL]

I was very impressed with Comcast in this instance. By my calculations it took them around 15 minutes to shut it down from when the said they would. They were courteous, efficient, and took the problem seriously. I have nothing to complain about.

 

[sechs]

I'm sure that they were more concerned about their network than yours. However, the result is the same.