Question

Block FTP brute force attempts

Asked by: ITDeptAtPCS

Hi all,

I frequently see brute force attempts at finding usernames in my FTP server logs all of the time.  Someone will try to connect to the FTP server from an IP address (usually coming from China) repeatedly, using a dictionary attack of different usernames A through Z.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to block an IP from attempting to connect after 10-15 attempts?  

I'd like to be able to do this on the firewall level, as we have a SonicWALL NSA 3500, and this would prevent any unneccassary traffic from entering the network.  But if we had to do it on the server level, it's IPswitch WSFTP Server 6.1.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

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Asked On
2009-05-22 at 14:21:32ID24432462
Tags

ftp

,

hack

,

prevent

,

brute force

,

bot

Topics

Enterprise Firewalls

,

FTP Servers

Participating Experts
3
Points
500
Comments
7

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Answers

 

by: keith_alabasterPosted on 2009-05-23 at 03:08:16ID: 24457294

You won't be able to do this - its either block it always or allow it

 

by: decoleurPosted on 2009-05-26 at 12:19:32ID: 24476548

I do not know what you can do on the SonicWall but on a Cisco firewall you can set up an FTP proxy that can shun a client after repeated failed attempts. I would look and see if the FTP proxy is a capability of the Sonic Wall as most vendors seek feature parity.

hope this helps,

-t

 

by: keith_alabasterPosted on 2009-05-26 at 12:28:40ID: 24476649

Ahhh.... Cisco - if only :)

 

by: rsivanandanPosted on 2009-06-05 at 01:03:42ID: 24554130

I just read this http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-central/sonicwall-nsa-death-malware-569, looks like your SonicWall may be able to provide you the service you want either with built-in signatures or custom idp signatures?

Cheers,
Rajesh

 

by: keith_alabasterPosted on 2009-06-05 at 11:10:46ID: 24558892

Hey matey - very long time - no speak :)

 

by: rsivanandanPosted on 2009-06-05 at 20:57:11ID: 24561477

Was pretty busy Keith ( a critical project hanging on my head :-) ), also was out on vacation after long while.

Cheers,
Rajesh

 

by: ITDeptAtPCSPosted on 2009-10-23 at 13:31:15ID: 31584575

no longer an issue

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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