From: lists at nolog.org (Martin Peikert)
Subject: CounterAttack

Hello,

Dolbow, Phil wrote:
 > If your network is PROBED by another system, where do you draw your
 > line?

the same where s/PROBED/ATTACKED - in my opinion a probe is a prelude to 
further attacks and therefore I can see no difference. (Sometimes the 
difficulty is to decide: Is this a probe or not?)

> A) Log the data and otherwise do nothing.
> B) Probe the other system.
> C) Infiltrate the other system, but do no damage.
> D) Shut the other system down.
> E) Destroy the other system.
> F) Destroy the other system and all others around it.

*none* of the above. There are more possibilities between "shut up" and 
"fire back as hard as I can" and I really miss one thing:

Try to find out who's probing/attacking you and *contact* the admins of 
the attacker's IP to prevent further probes/attacks.

It's possible that the administrator of the host that attacked your 
network didn't know about that - I've contacted admins that didn't know 
what their users did or even that their network was compromised - the 
reaction was almost positive.

If it's not a fixed IP, contact the ISP.

I would never fight back before I tried to contact the other side - in 
almost every case a fight would not be necessary at all.

Other possibilities: You could log the probe/attack and sue the 
attacker. You could drop all from IPs that probed/attacked you. I think 
there are more.

Anyway, if an attack was successful - do you really think a 
counterstrike would prevent the attacker from further attacks?


GTi

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