Scanning the Internet for Vulnerabilities

John Curran jcurran at istaff.org
Wed Jun 22 14:35:10 UTC 2022


Barry - 

There is indeed a metaphor to your “rattling doorknobs", but it’s not pretty when it comes to the Internet…   

If you call the police because someone is creeping around your property checking doors and windows for 
possible entry, then they will indeed come out and attempt to arrest the perpetrator (I am most certainly 
not a lawyer, but as I understand it even the act of opening an unlocked window or door is sufficient in many 
jurisdictions to satisfy the “breaking the seal of the property” premise and warrant charging under breaking 
and entering statues.)

Now welcome to the Internet…  paint all your windows black, remove all lighting save for one small bulb
over your front entry.   Sit back and enjoy the continuous sounds of rattling doorknobs and scratching at 
the windows.

If/when you find a digital culprit creeping around inside the home, your best option is burn down the place 
and start anew with the copies you keep offsite in storage elsewhere.   Similarly if you find a “trap” (e.g., 
a phishing email) placed on your patio or amongst your mail… discard such cautiously and hope your 
kids use equal care. 

“Best practice” for handling these situations on the Internet is effectively to cope as best you can despite
being inundated with attempts – i.e. most Internet security professionals and law enforcement will tell you
that the idea of actually trying to identify and stop any of the culprits involved is considered rather quaint
at best – i.e. we’re instead going to engage in the worlds longest running game of “whack-a-mole” by just
blocking their last known website/mail server/botnet and the wishing for the best…  

Enjoy your Internet! 
/John

Disclaimers:  My views alone - use, reuse, or discard as desired.   
                      This message made of 100% recycled electrons. 

> On 22 Jun 2022, at 12:04 AM, bzs at theworld.com wrote:
> 
> 
> When I lock the doors etc to my home I'll often mutter "ya know, if
> someone is rattling my door knob I already have a big problem."
> 
> I suppose when I'm home it might give me a warning if I hear it.
> 
> There must be a metaphor in there somewhere.
> 
> I do recall as a teen noticing that one of the closed store's on the
> main drag's door was unlocked late one night walking home (this was in
> NYC.)
> 
> I saw a cop and told him and he scolded me angrily for rattling door
> knobs, I could be arrested for that! But verified it, looked around
> inside with his flashlight, and called it in.
> 
> I forget how I noticed but I wasn't in the habit of rattling stores'
> door knobs, I think the door was just a bit ajar.
> 
> There must be a metaphor in there somewhere.
> 
> On June 21, 2022 at 10:01 mpalmer at hezmatt.org (Matt Palmer) wrote:
>> On Mon, Jun 20, 2022 at 02:18:30AM +0000, Mel Beckman wrote:
>>> When researchers, or whoever, claim their scanning an altruistic service,
>>> I ask them if they would mind someone coming to their home and trying to
>>> open all the doors and windows every night.
>> 
>> If there were a few hundred people with nefarious intent trying to open your
>> doors and windows every night, someone doing the same thing with altruistic
>> intent might not be such a bad thing.
>> 
>> - Matt
> 
> -- 
>        -Barry Shein
> 
> Software Tool & Die    | bzs at TheWorld.com             | http://www.TheWorld.com
> Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: +1 617-STD-WRLD       | 800-THE-WRLD
> The World: Since 1989  | A Public Information Utility | *oo*

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