To block or not to block?

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 6:10 am

I've been pondering whether or not to put a NukeSentinel(tm) block on my site for some time, and admit being at an impass. Does having a block deter someone from hacking (or attempting to hack) my site? Or does it just challenge / encourage them?

I'm curious to hear your opinions, and war stories...

Sells PC To Pay For Divorce Joined: Posts: 5661

thats just personal.....
it can go both ways.....or they get scared,or they go for the challenge..
many dont use the block,and some do....

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:26 am

I personally believe its greenly to believe that you can deter someone from hacking by using a public NukeSentinel block or a footer message like " protected by NukeSentinel" but who knows...

Involved Joined: Jul 15, 2004 Posts: 252 Location: OKC, OK

I dont think in the long run it makes any diffrence, I think 99.9999999% of hackers never even look at or search your site, they just try and hack. I get hack attempts all the time for software that I never have had installed like Mambo or Coppermine. If they had checked out my site they would know I didn't have those.

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 1:19 pm

From a hackers perspective you could argue that it tells them whether your site is up to date with the current Sentinel installation and help them work out what Hack to use.

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 1:40 pm

nice one.....jakec ,

but why should it be their concern...
most hackers are in it for the fun...showing off what they did...
kinda like macho's do......hey look i have a bigger .........ehm..car.

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 3:07 pm

Quote:

From a hackers perspective you could argue that it tells them whether your site is up to date with the current Sentinel installation and help them work out what Hack to use.

This is exactly my line of reasoning that argues against the block. Why should I tell them what I'm running to make it easier.

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 4:00 pm

Quote:

nice one.....jakec

Sorry Hitwalker, not quite sure how to take that, was that sarcasm? Confused

Anyway, all the hacker has to do is search for 'sentinel 2.4.2' in google and you will find a load of sites which are still using version 2.4.2 and therefore vulnerable to certain attacks.

Perhaps we should consider removing the version number from the Sentinel blocks?

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 4:24 pm

non of that... Wink

i did realy mean ......."nice one jakec"
but i was just saying that any of it shouldnt concern the hackers....

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 1:28 am

OK cool

but do you not think having the version number on the block is advertising your site to hackers, especially if the version is out of date?

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 5:52 am

Personally, I agree. We should never show version numbers.

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 5:55 am

I agree. Security by obscurity is not good security, but is does add to good security. Smile

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:28 am

why help hackers...
a simple footer text like ....protected by sentinel... seems sufficiant enough..
in that way all they can wonder is,.....is it or is it not updated....