[techtalk] About prettyphysicslady on the linuxchix techtalk list...

[Mary Gardiner]

On Sat, May 12, 2001 at 09:31:05PM -0700, Marisa Mack wrote:
> 
> Port       State       Service
> 21/tcp     open        ftp
> 22/tcp     open        ssh
> 23/tcp     open        telnet
> 25/tcp     open        smtp
> 80/tcp     open        http
> 110/tcp    open        pop-3
> 111/tcp    open        sunrpc
> 443/tcp    open        https
> 513/tcp    open        login
> 514/tcp    open        shell
> 635/tcp    open        unknown
> 1503/tcp   open        imtc-mcs                
> 2040/tcp   open        lam
> 2049/tcp   open        nfs
> 3306/tcp   open        mysql
> 3333/tcp   open        dec-notes
> 5050/tcp   open        mmcc
> 9090/tcp   open        zeus-admin              

For those not in the know, this kind of output is produced by the program nmap,
which determines which ports (which are used by network services) are open for
initial contact to the outside world.

Most will require a password to procede, however telnet and ftp accept clear
text password. Hence people relatively near to the machine can theorectical find
out the passwords by watching the network traffic a lot.

Some of these programs, depending on the version, should be shut down unless
you need them open and know how to use them.

Most notable are the sunrpc and nfs ports, probably run by the program called
portmap. This and name serving (port 53, which isn't open) have frequent
vulnerablities.

For reference, my computer has:

22/tcp     open        ssh                     
80/tcp     open        http                    
139/tcp    open        netbios-ssn

behind a firewall. netbios-ssn is only necessary if you use Windows's file
sharing protocol with the SAMBA utility. http is open because I use my machine
to test Apache configs and web pages, and ssh for access of course.

To be covered later in FAQ...

Mary.

-- 
Mary Gardiner
<mary at puzzling.org>
GPG Key ID: 77625870