midtoad's blog

Crackers are out there

I'd only had the new server on the 'net about an hour before I noticed a log file that keeps track of password failures. I peeked into it and was surprised to see a whole lot of failed login attempts from an IP address in the 211. range (i.e. China) - and the next day, a bunch from the 218. range (Hong Kong). Obviously no one I know! I've taken steps to shut down any more such attempts.

The person involved in these attempts has a dictionary of common names and is systematically going through them, attempting to discover which user names are valid on my server. Once he (most likely a young male) discovers a valid user name, he'll go to work trying to crack my password.

Needless to say, I've deleted any accounts with obvious usernames and now log in with a more obscure name. In addition, I've banned all users from China (and numerous other countries) from logging onto my server.

Still, it kind of gives you the creeps to know that stangers are trying to break into your "home" on the net. I guess vigilance and prudence are the price to be paid for worldwide open communications.