Re: [Sheflug] igmp packets...... it's getting worse....

[Will Newton <nospam [at] misconception.org.uk>]

On Mon, 20 Nov 2000, ross wrote:

> i geuss this is how hackers get your emails and passwords then.....
> does this mean it's possible to listen in to general network trafic outside
> of my machine?
> don't worry.... it's not a general pastime of mine to eavs drop on
> others...... just want to know how much of what i do and say is available to
> others......

Basically, anyone on the packets physical route is able to view the packet
in it's entirety. All the hops listed by traceroute between you and the
destination have full access. Most of the time this is no big deal, they
are large routers that have a lot of traffic, most of it rather
uninteresting stuff (lot's of porn most likely :). The trouble is, LAN
systems like Ethernet allow cards to listen in on all packets on the wire,
not just ones addressed to them. So say you are on a corporate LAN, and
telnet to your home machine. The guy sitting next to you could in theory
have his NIC capturing packets of the wire, be looking for telnet protocol
packets, and read your username and password out of them.
Admittedley this is unlikely (he's probably downloading porn :) but this
is why it's good to use SSH.


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