4 ms·

For individuals and smaller orgs the easiest and by experience the best practice is to use a certificate (or generated and never to be reused password) for ssh

by belorn 6y ago

For individuals and smaller orgs the easiest and by experience the best practice is to use a certificate (or generated and never to be reused password) for ssh authentication, install server monitoring, and then simply observe if the spam from random drive-by causes enough resource drain that would validate further work. Most likely it won't. Running a tar pit is a bit like installing a trap on a bike in order to teach bike thieves a lesson. It won't really reduce the problem, but for a lot of people the idea of vengeance gives a bit of a warm happy feeling.

toyg 6y ago
> Running a tar pit is a bit like installing a trap on a bike in order to teach bike thieves a lesson. It's more like approaching a thief and persuading him to steal some bike "just around the corner", then guiding him around endlessly. While he's following you, he's also not stealing anything from anyone, his attention (which is naturally finite) gets drained - even just a little bit - to the benefit of the community as a whole. It's not necessarily about vengeance.
- venatiodecorus 6y ago
  well what they're saying is sure you can do this but this hypothetical bike thief isn't going to follow you very far. ime this would seem to be the case. most ssh spam is very dumb, just looking for low hanging fruit w/ default credentials, and will likely move on very quickly without success.
- ed25519FUUU 6y ago
  It sounds like you’re both trapped in this scenario.
- kebman 6y ago
  Tangent story. Two friends of mine went backpacking to Amsterdam, short pants and all. When they got out of the train in the evening, a friendly guy approached them and asked if they were looking for a hotel. They said yes, so he told them to follow him. Delighted to be greeted in this way, they did. First they went down the regular path up Damrak to get to Leidseplein, but slowly and imperceptibly the streets were getting narrower and narrower, until they finally reached a dead end. That's when the guy whirled around, flipped out a small pocket knife and wheezed to them, "Gimme all your cash! NOW!" The guys looked at each other, and then looked at him, and then one of the guys calmly told him, "Look, we're two guys, and you're just one. Even if you get one of us, the other will beat your head in. You can't win this." The mugger looked puzzled for a moment, but then he retorted, "Ok, give me half your money then, and nobody gets hurt!" Not wanting to be the first guy who got stabbed, they agreed that, "Fine, we'll give you half! But only if you promise to not stab us." And so the deal went down, and they had finally arrived in Amsterdam.
  - jschwartzi 6y ago
    Lol someone approached me like that in Amsterdam too and offered to guide me somewhere. I figured that this was his plan so I told him I was okay and that I didn’t need his help.
  - jjeaff 6y ago
    People will approach tourists a lot like this in central and south america, but the end game tends to be to take the tourist to an inn or restaurant where they get a commission for taking them. I've never gone with anyone anywhere but very public spaces. But I actually have found some real gems tucked away off the beaten path this way.
    - milesvp 6y ago
      A friend and I took a day trip to Morocco many years ago while backpacking through Spain and experienced this. A local guide approached us who came across as pretty legit and had a driver. We had a good time being shown around to different stores and it was pretty clear that he was getting a kickback from the places we went. Had some nice mint tea, and a pretty good meal later. There was a slightly dark time in the middle though, where my friend and I were sure we were going to be mugged and left for dead when we were driving further and further from the city. I've never experienced anything quite like it before or since. We both looked at each other, and in an instant with a single expression we were both able to convey that "I love you and we're going to die". We were totally relieved when it turned out they just wanted to show a scenic view by the sea, while showing us a lot of very rich mansions along the way. Was totally surreal, though, and I'm not sure how lucky we were.
      - toyg 6y ago
        Morocco has a very mean and torture-happy secret police, and tourists are one of their main sources of income, so it’s very unlikely that anything particularly bad will ever happen to you, the risk for perps is too high. Cash, though... I was basically extorted by some guys with aggressive monkeys in the middle of Marrakech.
dheera 6y ago
> installing a trap on a bike in order to teach bike thieves a lesson. It won't really reduce the problem Maybe it is reducing the problem, but not enough people are installing traps to make a noticeable difference? Or the number of new thieves is cancelling out the number of thieves being put out of business by traps? Is there data for this? Or maybe the traps just aren't sophisticated enough?

by belorn 6y ago

toyg 6y ago

> Running a tar pit is a bit like installing a trap on a bike in order to teach bike thieves a lesson. It's more like approaching a thief and persuading him to steal some bike "just around the corner", then guiding him around endlessly. While he's following you, he's also not stealing anything from anyone, his attention (which is naturally finite) gets drained - even just a little bit - to the benefit of the community as a whole. It's not necessarily about vengeance.

venatiodecorus 6y ago
well what they're saying is sure you can do this but this hypothetical bike thief isn't going to follow you very far. ime this would seem to be the case. most ssh spam is very dumb, just looking for low hanging fruit w/ default credentials, and will likely move on very quickly without success.
ed25519FUUU 6y ago
It sounds like you’re both trapped in this scenario.
kebman 6y ago
Tangent story. Two friends of mine went backpacking to Amsterdam, short pants and all. When they got out of the train in the evening, a friendly guy approached them and asked if they were looking for a hotel. They said yes, so he told them to follow him. Delighted to be greeted in this way, they did. First they went down the regular path up Damrak to get to Leidseplein, but slowly and imperceptibly the streets were getting narrower and narrower, until they finally reached a dead end. That's when the guy whirled around, flipped out a small pocket knife and wheezed to them, "Gimme all your cash! NOW!" The guys looked at each other, and then looked at him, and then one of the guys calmly told him, "Look, we're two guys, and you're just one. Even if you get one of us, the other will beat your head in. You can't win this." The mugger looked puzzled for a moment, but then he retorted, "Ok, give me half your money then, and nobody gets hurt!" Not wanting to be the first guy who got stabbed, they agreed that, "Fine, we'll give you half! But only if you promise to not stab us." And so the deal went down, and they had finally arrived in Amsterdam.
- jschwartzi 6y ago
  Lol someone approached me like that in Amsterdam too and offered to guide me somewhere. I figured that this was his plan so I told him I was okay and that I didn’t need his help.
- jjeaff 6y ago
  People will approach tourists a lot like this in central and south america, but the end game tends to be to take the tourist to an inn or restaurant where they get a commission for taking them. I've never gone with anyone anywhere but very public spaces. But I actually have found some real gems tucked away off the beaten path this way.
  - milesvp 6y ago
    A friend and I took a day trip to Morocco many years ago while backpacking through Spain and experienced this. A local guide approached us who came across as pretty legit and had a driver. We had a good time being shown around to different stores and it was pretty clear that he was getting a kickback from the places we went. Had some nice mint tea, and a pretty good meal later. There was a slightly dark time in the middle though, where my friend and I were sure we were going to be mugged and left for dead when we were driving further and further from the city. I've never experienced anything quite like it before or since. We both looked at each other, and in an instant with a single expression we were both able to convey that "I love you and we're going to die". We were totally relieved when it turned out they just wanted to show a scenic view by the sea, while showing us a lot of very rich mansions along the way. Was totally surreal, though, and I'm not sure how lucky we were.
    - toyg 6y ago
      Morocco has a very mean and torture-happy secret police, and tourists are one of their main sources of income, so it’s very unlikely that anything particularly bad will ever happen to you, the risk for perps is too high. Cash, though... I was basically extorted by some guys with aggressive monkeys in the middle of Marrakech.

dheera 6y ago

> installing a trap on a bike in order to teach bike thieves a lesson. It won't really reduce the problem Maybe it is reducing the problem, but not enough people are installing traps to make a noticeable difference? Or the number of new thieves is cancelling out the number of thieves being put out of business by traps? Is there data for this? Or maybe the traps just aren't sophisticated enough?