zotob - blocking tcp/445

Tue Aug 16 03:43:17 UTC 2005

>'enterprise security folks' are probably not the issue... The fact
remains
>that lots of folks DO do this :( There are quite a few folks between
>'consumer' and 'enterprise' that do all manner of dumb things on the
>Internet  (where 'dumb' is equivalent to running smb shares across the
>public network minus encryption/ipsec). It's their choice to do that,
and
>their network providers are expected/demanded to pass those packets for
>them.

>-Chris

Surely the ratio of 'useful' traffic compared to 'junk' for a particular
protocol must be considered.  What percentage of netbios entering a
service provider's edge is intentional?  1%?  0.1%?  I'm guessing much
less than that.  If 5 or 6 nines worth of a particular protocol entering
or leaving an ISP's network is unintentional, and highly susceptible to
viral activity, isn't it in our best interest to block it?  With proper
notification to subscribers and instructions on setting up host-to-host
PPTP/whatever, blocking netbios can solve a large bunch of issues....

Just my .02 though,

Chuck