Serving false signatures to attack scanners with Portspoof
Flytrap
The Internet is a tough place to live – especially for publicly accessible computers. A small tool called Portspoof makes port scanning a real challenge for attackers.
Seasoned attackers, and even some amateur cyber-vandals, find sport in trying to scan servers and hijack them at the same time (Figure 1). Firewalls and Intrusion Detection/Prevention systems can help, but if a single tool could truly stop all potential attacks, the Internet intrusion industry wouldn't even exist.
A professional intrusion attempt is typically preceded by reconnaissance and scanning. Many attackers simply perform a scan, which is easily automated with tools like Nmap. An attacker who discovers a firewall and similar defensive system can often guess which ports and services are worth attacking. However, a tool called Portspoof [1] intervenes to cause complications and confusion for the attacker. Portspoof answers port requests with a wild mix of signatures and payloads. This confusing and unwanted information slows down any attempted port scan, forcing the attacker to manually evaluate the results in a time-consuming process.
Portspoof was developed in 2012 by Piotr Duszynski, who calls his program a "Service Emulator and Frontend Exploitation Framework." The application is available under the GPLv2 and is implemented in C++.
[...]
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.
-
Arch Linux Available for Windows Subsystem for Linux
If you've ever wanted to use a rolling release distribution with WSL, now's your chance.
-
System76 Releases COSMIC Alpha 7
With scores of bug fixes and a really cool workspaces feature, COSMIC is looking to soon migrate from alpha to beta.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 6.0 Available for Installation
The latest release of OpenMandriva has arrived with a new kernel, an updated Plasma desktop, and a server edition.
-
TrueNAS 25.04 Arrives with Thousands of Changes
One of the most popular Linux-based NAS solutions has rolled out the latest edition, based on Ubuntu 25.04.
-
Fedora 42 Available with Two New Spins
The latest release from the Fedora Project includes the usual updates, a new kernel, an official KDE Plasma spin, and a new System76 spin.
-
So Long, ArcoLinux
The ArcoLinux distribution is the latest Linux distribution to shut down.