On Tue, 2011-08-30 at 20:15 -0400, brian wrote: > On 08/30/2011 07:58 PM, Always Learning wrote: > > > > Curiously examining some of the blocked IP addresses in the daily > > Logwatch report, I notice strange sites attempting to connect to our > > servers on port 123 (the time port). > > > > I also notice our servers successfully contacting official time > > references centres which are not those sites trying to connect to us. I > > notice too the installed time software is listening on every available > > IP. I can not identity any options in any configuration files to > > turn-off this listening. > > > > Why are unknown sites attempting to connect to our server to, I assume, > > sample the time and how does one turn-off the software's listening on > > every IP address, including 127.0.0.1 ? > You can use iptables to block that port for all but specified addresses... > > assuming you have iptables set up to deny (drop) all by default, simply adding > > > -A INPUT -s xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/255.255.255.0 -i eth0 -p tcp -m tcp --dport 123 -j ACCEPT I think the -i eth0 is not needed with only one physical network interface. I don't use -m tcp and the instruction shown in your example works well without the -m tcp. Using IPtables caused the block ports with their IP addresses and their packet details to appear in Logwatch. As a keen user of IPtables I am currently looking at blocking some packets on their contents (-m string ......) before trying the 'bad guy' site IP blocking determined by hackers packets (-m recent .......) However I am curious to know why strange sites contact our servers on port 123 and why the installed Centos time software listens on every available IP address. Best regards, Paul. -- With best regards, Paul. England, EU. _______________________________________________ CentOS mailing list CentOS@xxxxxxxxxx http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos