Re: Pen testing / Vuln Assessment from Cable Modem - question on service provider selection

From: R. DuFresne (dufresne@sysinfo.com)
Date: Thu Jun 21 2007 - 15:21:16 EDT


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On Wed, 20 Jun 2007, Morgan Reed wrote:

> On 6/20/07, Tommy May <tommymay@comcast.net> wrote:
>> Issue - A standard nessus scan or nmap will choke my service from a
>> standard home based cable modem service.
>
> You will not likely find anybody who will be willing to allow this.
>
>> I need to have a solid provider that is "used to dealing with pen-test like
>> customer businesses"... is there someone that you all may be able to
>> recommend that won't cost an arm and a leg and will meet the requirements?
>> (i.e. one that's home based, allows it to happen, has pen-testing
>> customers. and doesn't cost any more than 100.00 a month).
>
> I highly doubt you will find one.

Actually, it can be done, I have with a couple of different ISP's in a
couple of different states over time. Best luck is with smaller mom/pop
shops whom you have developed a good working relationship with. YMMV...

Of course, bandwidth as well as RAM on the modem/router is a restriction
as well. This can be worked around, though, it often calls for off hours
testing and launching a scan and heading to bed while it completes
<smile>. Most cable business contracts start at about $150+ a month
though.

And if I recall over the years, comcast was one of the most restrictive
cable providers as well.

>
>> Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.
>
> My best suggestion would be to find a permissive shell account or get
> a co-lo server with it's own connection and use that (I have a root
> shell on a tier 2 system that I use for these activities).
>
> You're unlikely to find any ISP who will do this for you so your best
> bet is to go up a tier or two and get an unrestricted connection
> attached to a remote server, you'll still have to read the contracts
> carefully though.

co-los are a good way to go and one can go in with others on a co-lo
server setup to help divide costs. ISP's with shell access are not as
common as they were about 15 or so years back...

Thanks,

Ron DuFresne
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