Re: [LI] identd

[Sitaram Chamarty <sitaram@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, Dec 19, 1999 at 08:03:25PM -0600, Sathya Rangaswamy wrote:
> what is the significance of identd. 

Identd responds to requests made using the identd protocol (RFC
1413).  It responds by returning the user name of the process
running the connection.  Most common usage is for web servers to
find out your email address :-)  (or maybe I'm just being cynical
- sorry :-)

I would turn it off in inetd.conf.  In fact on my machines I
ussally dont even install it.

> man page describes it as a service
> that returns user information for a given tcp connection. How can I make
> a request to identd ?

I am not aware of any userland program that provides an interface
to it, but I would guess RFC 1413 is a good starting point.

> If I sees identd messages in syslog
> is there any cause for concern ?

Not usually, unless someone has found a security bug in in.identd
and is trying to exploit it :-)

As with most services, if you dont actually need it, turn it off.
Much safer in the long run.
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