Question

Intrusion Detection

Asked by: mehherc

I have a member server that is being subjected to an alphabet/library attack. The domain server is an W2K ISA server which is fine and not getting attacked and is running a public IP. The member server is a W2K server. It also has a public IP. The decision for this is moot at this point. (obviously, I am not happy with that) I have set up filters and bought software for monitoring and set up alert and alarms, etc. My problem is this. I am pretty sure I know where this is coming from, but the police say they cannot do anything until I have proof. The only problem is that with everything that I have set up, I cannot see his ip. Without his IP I cannot track it to him and have the appropriate actions taken. Luckily, my security measures have prevented him from breaking in. But it is only a matter of time. He is a scripter and sets his script to attack every 3 hours. I am running a 3 city vpn. so my locking out of private ips is out. My idea was to remove the public IP and set port forwarding up on the ISA server to the member server, but the bosses have told me absolutely not. There are a myriad number of reasons for this. But enough of the background. My question is this: Since this individual is doing a stealth alphabet/library attack, how can I get his IP address to track him down? I know there is software out there that will do it. However, the budget for expenditures does not allow for a $5000 piece of security equipment/software. The only one I found that seems to be worth a grain of salt is by NFR, but you will pay an arm and a leg for it. Does anyone have software, that is economical, that will give me intrusion detection and log IP's?

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Asked On
2006-09-22 at 06:20:16ID21999134
Tags

isa

Topics

Miscellaneous Security

,

Network Security

Participating Experts
4
Points
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Comments
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Answers

 

by: richrumblePosted on 2006-09-22 at 06:26:02ID: 17577326

Packets can't be routed with out an ip, so it's there. Windows event log might not be able to tell you what it is, but a netstat -an or a firewall can and will. When the attack is going on, a netstat -an will tell you the ips of those connected, a firewall such as zonealarm can log the ip no problem. You can even install wireshark aka ethereal to sniff the packets and get the ip address from that.
-rich

 

by: harbor235Posted on 2006-09-22 at 07:01:33ID: 17577607

richrumble is right, he cannot launch an attack remotely without an IP, he can however spoof IP traffic and direct it to your site. The only problem with that from a Hackers perspective is that this only allows him to DOS you. He will not be able to retieve any information or he/she will not be able to gain access.

Do you mean that you do not know his real IP? Your ISP can still track his traffic even if he is spoofing the traffic. If this is the case you may need to engage your ISP to assist in tracking him down.

Good IDS/IDP software, Snort, www.snort.org.

harbor235 ;}

 

by: tradecraft1Posted on 2006-09-23 at 22:10:23ID: 17585678

VMWare has several "appliances" that you can run for free on the VMWare player. These appliances have Snort and other Network Security tools already installed.

http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/185
http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/141/

These will save you the trouble of installing Linux / Snort if you have never done it. Download an install the free VMWare player then download one of the appliances. Start VMWare player and point it to the .vmx file from the appliance.

If you have any other issues feel free to contact me directly.

--Chris
InfoSecPodcast.com

 

by: mehhercPosted on 2006-09-26 at 07:01:26ID: 17601249

richrumble, your suggestion would work, but unfortunately I cannot see his IP. It just shows a null value for his ip address. I have done the ethereal route and it also shows a null value. it is possible that I am just not using it right. Any tips would be appreciated.

harbor235, I have already been down the road with snort. I just cannot seem to get it to correctly work in a test environment. it will sniff, but it will not log any info correctly or incorrectly. just no info. if you have a pointer, it would be appreciated. And as to the isp, it is a really "unfriendly" service. it has stated that it would not help and that the security is on our shoulders not theirs to even help.

tradecraft1, the appliances look like a good thought. 2 problems though the network intrusion detection appliance file is not there. and the network security toolskit asks for a username and password when booted. the site lists them as root and pass of nst@2003, but they do not work. any ideas?

 

by: tradecraft1Posted on 2006-09-26 at 07:27:11ID: 17601484

Try this one:

http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/appliances/directory/314

It has good ratings and the file is there. I have not used this one but the description sounds correct. You will need to use a Bittorrent client to download it.

If you feel up to a little more of a challeng you can install Linux and Snort on your own hardware following this guide:

http://www.internetsecurityguru.com/documents/Snort_Base_Minimal.pdf

It's probably one of the easier docs.

--Chris

 

by: prashsaxPosted on 2006-09-27 at 14:45:21ID: 17614472

Its really stange that Ethereal is not picking up the IP address.

Could you take a screenshot of the ethereal console and put it here.

If packets are coming to your machine, they got to have IP address.

could you paste one packet captured by ethereal.

 

by: richrumblePosted on 2006-09-28 at 10:31:01ID: 17621220

THe screen shot should go to ee-stuff....
http://www.ee-stuff.com/?PHPSESSID=f8760d0047d1fc326e60904567b192a6

Yes, very strange for Ethereal not to pick it up... only traffic I know that doesn't have an IP is brodcast traffic, like multicast doesn't always have an IP
But it should for the most part, 224.0.0.0/4
NetRange:   224.0.0.0 - 239.255.255.255
CIDR:       224.0.0.0/4
NetName:    MCAST-NET
NetHandle:  NET-224-0-0-0-1
Parent:    
NetType:    IANA Special Use
NameServer: FLAG.EP.NET
NameServer: STRUL.STUPI.SE
NameServer: NS.ISI.EDU
NameServer: NIC.NEAR.NET
Comment:    This block is reserved for special purposes.
Comment:    Please see RFC 3171 for additional information.
-rich

 

by: mehhercPosted on 2006-09-29 at 08:50:35ID: 17628422

sorry for not responding earlier guys. I was in the tracking mode. I now have the evidence I need to nail that wonderful guy to the wall. Just to let everyone know what I did. I did some reading in Ethereal. I did not change any of the defaults after installing it. Big mistake. I left the "capture packets in promiscuous mode" option checked. This doesn't get all the packets I needed and wanted. Hence, It did capture any data coming in and what it did capture was null values. Guess I just had to do more reading on the software I before I cry wolf, so to speak. Thanks for the help all. I will split the points between the first 3 to respond to me. Thanks again.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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