Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > Interests > Tilted Technology


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 10-14-2004, 03:45 PM   #1 (permalink)
Mjollnir Incarnate
 
Location: Lost in thought
FTP server

For kicks, I've decided to dabble in making my own FTP server. I'm using serv-u corporate. I have two questions.

1) What are some basic security measures I should take? I'm running it on port 28 instead of 21, and I set passive ports from 2000-2010 (no clue why, but the website told me to).

2) Will Sygate act up every time an outside machine tries to connect? If so, can I fix that? And will letting people through destroy the practicality of a firewall on that port?

Yeah, I'm another dangerous n00b with an internet connection. Out of my way before I'm h4x0red.
Slavakion is offline  
Old 10-14-2004, 03:54 PM   #2 (permalink)
Crazy
 
Location: Ohio
Are you using a router? If not it would be a good idea, give you a little more security. But your have to forward the ports.

If you really want a server, I'd set up a second machine and use it. That way if it does get hacked, you won't have any personal info on it, and you can just wipe it and start over.
bitrunner is offline  
Old 10-14-2004, 03:57 PM   #3 (permalink)
Mjollnir Incarnate
 
Location: Lost in thought
Yeah, I have a router. I know it'd be safer to get another machine, but it's on mine for now. Meh.
Slavakion is offline  
Old 10-14-2004, 03:58 PM   #4 (permalink)
Tilted
 
I'll second what bitrunner said about using a second machine. i was using my personal computer for a ftp server (for personal use) and found it getting "hit" way too often for my comfort. set up a second machine (old pentium) and used it instead...no worries now if something happens.
nospam is offline  
Old 10-15-2004, 07:39 AM   #5 (permalink)
Insane
 
Location: Austin, TX
Running on port 28 doesn't really add any security to your system...that's called "security by obscurity". This is the same security model Microsoft uses, and we all see how effective <i>that</i> is. If somebody wants to hack your box, all it takes is a quick port scan to figure out you're running an FTP server on port 28 rather than 21. Just run the server on port 21 and make sure you've got everything covered.
  • Disable guest/anonymous accounts, or at a minimum disable uploads.
  • Make sure that you've configured your FTP server to treat your FTP directory as a root directory, so that people can't back up the tree and get to your files. On a linux FTP server this is called a "chroot jail".
  • Make sure that if you give access to individual people that they pick "good" passwords.
  • Keep your system patched (including your FTP server!!) to prevent any known loopholes from getting exploited.

I also recommend running your FTP server on a second machine. For added security, it's trivial to set up an FTP server on a linux machine (most distributions come with an FTP server already installed; you just need to enable it). That and running a web server are great ways to "get into" linux gently without ditching windows completely.

Last edited by skaven; 10-15-2004 at 07:45 AM.. Reason: reformatting
skaven is offline  
Old 10-15-2004, 09:15 AM   #6 (permalink)
undead
 
Location: nihilistic freedom
Quote:
Originally Posted by skaven
Running on port 28 doesn't really add any security to your system...that's called "security by obscurity". This is the same security model Microsoft uses, and we all see how effective <i>that</i> is. If somebody wants to hack your box, all it takes is a quick port scan to figure out you're running an FTP server on port 28 rather than 21. Just run the server on port 21 and make sure you've got everything covered.
While I can't agree more that this kind of security by obscurity is no excuse for real security practices, I disagree with running it on port 21. Even though a hacker could figure you out by running a port scanner, most don't scan the entire 1-65536 possibe port range. Running your server on one of these other non-obvious ports is a sure-fire way to eliminate a good percentage of would be hackers.

No matter how secure your facility is, its always a good practice not to let anyone know you're there.
nothingx is offline  
Old 10-15-2004, 09:35 AM   #7 (permalink)
Tilted
 
Location: Orlando
Yeah, I think I would pick some crazy port #, like 38972. If someone port scans every port on your box then well, you are hosed. However, most are only going to scan for 1-1024(or whatever the reserved port range is) and then ports that trojans/virii/worms/etc listen to then move on. However, slap that puppy on another box and keep it patched would be the best thing to do.
gariig is offline  
Old 10-15-2004, 10:34 AM   #8 (permalink)
Mjollnir Incarnate
 
Location: Lost in thought
Quote:
Originally Posted by skaven
  • Disable guest/anonymous accounts, or at a minimum disable uploads.
  • Make sure that you've configured your FTP server to treat your FTP directory as a root directory, so that people can't back up the tree and get to your files. On a linux FTP server this is called a "chroot jail".
  • Make sure that if you give access to individual people that they pick "good" passwords.
  • Keep your system patched (including your FTP server!!) to prevent any known loopholes from getting exploited.
1) Did it.
2) Did it.
3) Well, my password is good. It's the only one so far.
4) I'm patched up except for SP2, which breaks too many things for me to switch to yet. (bitch at me all you want, I've heard too many bad stories).

It's not even running right now. It's really just a way for me to easily share something with a friend if I chose to.
Slavakion is offline  
 

Tags
ftp, server

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 03:18 PM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360