(This horse just won't stay dead...)

My apologies if I mis-attribute who wrote what.

On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 11:35 AM, Jim Lucas <li...@cmsws.com> wrote:

How is using Fail2Ban less resource intensive then me writing (by hand) iptable rules?

On Mon, 5 Dec 2011, C F wrote:

Sorry I wasnt very clear in my first writing, I'll try to clarify. Using iptables only detects one type of attack (aggressive connections). While his machines might be secure enough to allow any other attacks and still not compromise his machine, iptables will still allow them thru and therefore the attack will be using his bandwidth/resources, with f2b one can add as many rules as/when they arrive.

I think you are over-generalizing.

You can write iptables rules to detect and respond to many types of attacks.

Since F2B is just an automated front end to iptables you can have as many rules as you need with or without F2B. Also, since packets are 'stopped' at the same place (iptables) any bandwidth savings would only be to services that you are running that either aren't or can't* be nailed down.

Also, since both methods involve the use of iptables, where exactly is the bandwidth savings?

In detection.

How about 'in responding to an attack your iptables rules don't already mitigate and you do have F2B rules defined for?' 'Detecting' an attack means close to nothing if you don't respond to it :)

I'm not hating on F2B, it's just not a silver bullet nor is it appropriate for all environments.

Your security needs depends on your environment. At this point in time, all of the hosts I manage for my clients exist in very limited environments and have very small attack surfaces. They are racked in secure data centers. They only accept SIP from clients with static IP addresses that we have an existing business relationship with. They only accept SSH connections from me. They only accept HTTP connections from me and my boss. That's about it. I don't see where F2B adds much value for me.

*) Lots of admins think they can't limit access to servers because they have 'mobile' users. Your users probably don't need to access your servers from every single place on the Internet. If your users don't come from China, North Korea, Iran, etc, you can block entire regions with a few rules and eliminate 80% of probes and attacks from reaching your servers in the first place. Apologies in advance if you happen to live in some of these regions -- feel free to `s/China, North Korea, Iran/United States, Canada, England/g`

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Thanks in advance,
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Steve Edwards       sedwa...@sedwards.com      Voice: +1-760-468-3867 PST
Newline                                              Fax: +1-760-731-3000

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