CIT Scans for Open Web Proxies

June 2, 2003:

CIT continues to receive a number of complaints regarding the abuse of open web proxy servers that are running on the Cornell network. Open web proxies have allowed people not affiliated with Cornell to use resources that are licensed to Cornell University affiliates only. Many vendors have expressed concern over this theft of service.

We have found that many network administrators were not aware of the existence of these servers before the complaints were made. Therefore, over the next few days, the IT Security Team of CIT will be scanning for web proxies running on the Cornell network. Specifically, we will be scanning for tcp ports 1080, 8000, and 8080.

If we have located systems running web proxies, we will attempt to contact the individual network administrators to discuss the feasibility of disabling these proxies or ensuring that the proxies do not allow anonymous access. We ask for your patience and cooperation with this effort.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the CIT IT Security Team at security@cornell.edu.

April 9, 2003

CIT has been receiving an increased number of complaints regarding the abuse of open web proxy servers that are running on the Cornell network. Open web proxies have allowed non-Cornell people to use resources that are licensed to Cornell University affiliates only. Many vendors have expressed concern over this theft of service.

We have found that many network administrators were not aware of the existence of these servers before the complaints were made. Therefore, over the next few days, the IT Security Team of CIT will be scanning for web proxies running on the Cornell network. Specifically, we will be scanning for tcp ports 1080, 8000, and 8080. Though proxies can exist on other ports, we feel that scanning for these ports will help identify proxies that are running accidentally.

Once we have located systems running web proxies, we will contact the individual network administrators to discuss the feasibility of disabling these proxies or ensuring that the proxies do not allow for anonymous access. We ask for your patience and cooperation with this effort.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact the CIT IT Security Team at security@cornell.edu.