On Thu, 2008-04-17 at 12:00 +1000, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>         I run my own web server and have done so for a number of
>         years.  The OS
>         is Mandriva Server 3 which is now 3 years old but still
>         supported and I
>         keep it fully patched and up to date.  I receive the security
>         advisories
>         and act within hours on those.  I have recently updated
>         OpenSSH.  I am
>         planning to change to CentOS 5.1 in a few weeks.
>         
>         My router only has the necessary ports open for mail, ssh and
>         web.  FTP
>         is blocked and the service does not run on the box. I run ssh
>         through a
>         non standard port (externally) and use normal password
>         authentication.
>         The ssh config file does not allow root logons and through
>         hosts
>         allow/deny, only my work ip address and internal network
>         addresses are
>         allowed access.  The ip based access has been tested and is
>         known to
>         work.  My passwords are strong and changed every six weeks.
>         The system
>         uses msec which trolls the folders and changes permissions
>         back to
>         defaults on critical files/folders every one minute.
>         
>         I run logwatch and read the report diligently each day.  Msec
>         also
>         delivers a report daily on files which have changed and ports
>         which have
>         been opened/closed.  Over the last year or so I have had
>         appear a few
>         times, the following message in my logs and which has caused
>         me concern.
>         
>         !!!! 1 possible successful probes 
>             /long_path_to_file/../../../etc/passwd HTTP Response 200 
>         
>         With the environment (described above) in place, should I be
>         worried or
>         should I be confident that I have taken every precaution I can
>         take?

Rick <smile> where do you keep the gold?

My system sounds like yours: www, mail, ssh on non standard, no root
login. I made a complete disk backup on install
(A WD raptor failed after 3 years (warranty :-), so the backup was
pressed into service)
But passwords are untouched after 5 years, updates happen 1 or 2 per
year, no other restrictions are enforced. 

I sleep easy, knowing that worst-case is a disk swap and some pondering,
and I've 5 years of lolling on the beach while you fret over the
logs ...

Of course if you're having fun then do enjoy.
James

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