[isp-linux] Re: Blocking all APNIC IP Addresses

[Raju Mathur <raju@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Steve,

>>>>> "Steve" == Steve West <wppiphoto@xxxxxxxx> writes:

    Steve> Raju,

    Steve> I think I have the right to block out any traffic I wish on
    Steve> servers which we OWN & OPERATE. Last time I checked, our
    Steve> company is fortunate enough to be doing business in a free,
    Steve> democratic country.

Of course you do, and of course you do.  No one's stopping you from
doing what you want.  By the same token, don't stop me from doing what
I want.

    Steve> It's too bad you have seemed to take it personally. But, I
    Steve> don't think I'm alone in the problems coming from Asia.

I get crack attempts on my system from Romania, China, India, USA,
South Africa, South America, France.  I could react the way you do, by
saying ``Oh well, the US, Europe, Africa and Asia are full of
lawless crackers, so I think I'll just ban all heir IP's from my
system.''  However, I approach the problem differently: if it's my
system, it's also my responsibility to make sure that it's as secure
as I can make it, rather than to react with inane bans on IP's picked
at random out of a hat.

    Steve> And lastly, it's not very kind to be compared to "Nazis"!

Really?  Compare the following two statements:

``Jews are responsible for 90% of Germany's problems.  Let's eliminate
them'', -- Adolf Hitler, circa 1939.

``Asians are responsible for 90% of crack attempts and spam on our
systems, let's ban them [paraphrased]'', Steve West, 2001.

I can't see any difference; can you?

I'm sorry, but anyone who mindlessly wants to block nearly half the
worlds population while making generic statements like ``This is very
alarming because it speaks of the LACK of any laws'', thereby
demonstrating a complete lack of or desire for knowledge about other
countries by lumping 50 of them into one category smells strongly like
a Nazi to me.  Maybe your definitions are different.

    Steve> SW


    Steve> -----Original Message----- From: Raju Mathur
    Steve> [mailto:raju@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: Monday, April 09, 2001
    Steve> 12:44 AM To: isp-linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Cc:
    Steve> linux-delhi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx;
    Steve> linux-india-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx;
    Steve> india-gii@xxxxxxxx Subject: [isp-linux] Re: Blocking all
    Steve> APNIC IP Addresses


    Steve> /me quickly updates /etc/mail/access on all systems he
    Steve> administers:

    Steve> wppi.com 550 We do not accept mail from Nazis.  Please see
    Steve> April 2001 archives at
    Steve> http://ISP-Lists.ISP-Planet.com/isp-linux/archives/ for
    Steve> more information.

    Steve> Copied to regional Linux and IT discussion lists to enable
    Steve> others to do the same.  Don't worry, no one in Asia will
    Steve> ever want to do business with you once this gets around
    Steve> (and I can assure you I'll do everything in my power to
    Steve> ensure it does).

    Steve> BTW, APNIC has the following netblocks assigned to it:

    Steve> 202/8, 203/8, 210/8, 211/8, 61/8 and 2001:0200::/23

    Steve> With best regards,

    Steve> -- Raju

>>>>> "Steve" == Steve West <wppiphoto@xxxxxxxx> writes:

    Steve> Thanks to all who replied to my question. I never thought
    Steve> my question was going to be such a discussion topic! :)

    Steve> This whole thing started several months ago, when we were
    Steve> getting scanned on the average about 3 times per hour by
    Steve> various servers from Asia!!! We have been pretty successful
    Steve> in blocking about 90% of all the scanning. On the other
    Steve> hand, the spam mail issue is still a very large problem. No
    Steve> matter what we did to block various mail servers, they just
    Steve> find a new mail server to use. As you can see, this is a
    Steve> loosing battle trying to keep up!

    Steve> I understand that we should not generalize an entire
    Steve> region, but in our case we have had more trouble
    Steve> originating/using servers from Asia than any other region!
    Steve> I'm very aware that many of these attacks are being done by
    Steve> users in the US using vulnerable systems in Asia. But
    Steve> without any real security measures in Asia, they will
    Steve> forever be the perfect target by hackers.

    Steve> This is very alarming because it speaks of the LACK of any
    Steve> laws. Basically, we came to the conclusion that at this
    Steve> point, we do not do business with anyone in the Asia region
    Steve> and could afford to ignore this entire region.  Maybe our
    Steve> policy will change when it requires but I think their laws
    Steve> must change first.

    Steve> Going back to my question, what IP addresses are assigned
    Steve> to Asia? So, far I have

    Steve> 202.0.  203.0.  210.0.  211.0.

    Steve> Thanks!
-- 
Raju Mathur          raju@xxxxxxxxxxxxx           http://kandalaya.org/

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