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Refining the Worm Blocker

  • The worm blockers on the previous two slides are effective. But what if:
    • An infected dial-up user is blocked, and then subsequent users on the same line can't reach your site?
    • An infected user is behind a NAT firewall or transparent proxy/cache?
    • A malicious third party posts (or e-mails to users) links which, when followed, set off the worm blocker?
  • Some possible solutions:
    • Require a minimum number of hits from an IP address before blacklisting it (Nimda and Code Red never knock just once)
    • Amnesty policy: "Forgive" IPs (either unconditionally or if "well-behaved") after a certain amount of time
  • Other refinements
    • Notify administrator of current block list so that he or she can contact repeat offenders by phone or e-mail
    • Add a "do not block" list that works by IP and/or domain
  • We can never prevent all potential problems, but can do pretty well
  • Because SNOBOL4 has hashes, can send mail, etc., the SNOBOL4 program can be adapted to implement any desired policy