Flash Media Servers as Open Proxies

Thu Dec 3 18:22:41 UTC 2009

On Dec 3, 2009, at 1:09 PM, Ray Sanders wrote:

> Marshall,
>
> Did you find out via published article, or your own research?
> Either way I'd like (if you don't mind) more information on this so  
> I can investigate what impact there may be on our systems.
>

Via a DMCA take-down letter for a Cricket match that was sent to  
AmericaFree.TV, and subsequent research into what was going on.

Regards
Marshall

>
> Thanks!
>
> Marshall Eubanks wrote:
>> I recently found out that the Adobe Flash Media Server (FMS) can  
>> operate "out of the box"
>> as an open proxy, enabling other people to steal server resources  
>> and bandwidth. Furthermore,
>> I also found that there is an ecosystem of pirates taking advantage  
>> of this "feature" to
>> illegally stream sports events (and maybe other stuff as well).  
>> Each event uses multiple (stolen)
>> servers and can amount to thousands of streams and Gbps of consumed  
>> bandwidth.
>>
>> I believe but am not 100% sure that there are similar problems with  
>> Window Media Servers.
>>
>> I would like to hear (off-list) from people who have experience  
>> fighting this so that we could
>> maybe pool techniques. I will try to write this up further later.
>>
>> Regards
>> Marshall Eubanks
>>
>>
>
>
> -- 
> -"Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future."
> -Niels Bohr
> --
> Ray Sanders
> Linux Administrator
> Village Voice Media
> Office: 602-744-6547
> Cell: 602-300-4344
>
>