>From [log in to unmask] Tue Aug 27 14:17:37 1996
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 96 11:11:31 PDT
From: Tom Perrine <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask],
        [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Trouble at your Site

Thanks for your message concerning suspicious usage of your FTP site.
 
I am responsible for security at the San Diego Supercomputer Center.
You may verify my identity and position via the PGP signature and
CERT, or by calling the switchboard of SDSC at the number below.
 
There is no cause for alarm.  This is the result of a project of one
of our researchers, which involves extracting information from numerous
FTP archives throughout the Internet.
 
It is similar to the web "crawlers" and "spiders" and "indexers" that
we have all encountered.  You mentioned "massive".  Is this a
reference to the amount of data transferred, or to the bandwidth or
CPU or other resources required to service the requests?  The scan is
*supposed* to be throttled to be "low overhead" and "unobtrusive" on
the archive being examined.
 
If this was not the case, please DO let me know.  I will be contacting
the researchers later today.
 
Congratulations: Many sites have been examined since this project
started a few weeks ago, and you are the first to even notice anything
unusual.  It looks like you do security like we do :-)
 
Feel free to contact me if you need further information, or would like
to discuss this situation.
 
- -- 
Tom E. Perrine ([log in to unmask]) | San Diego Supercomputer Center 
http://www.sdsc.edu/~tep/     | Voice: +1.619.534.5000
 
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.2
Comment: Processed by Mailcrypt 3.4, an Emacs/PGP interface
 
iQCVAwUBMiM6RBTSxpWcaAFRAQHi6QP/XIAxTmR7AHL+/N0OOIsRnkLzKov+ozqk
WLHjMgIow2uhPggcqeAgaSevGEwk76A5sL/9IA4BbujVQ/TUvUl7gHFb2KtENuI3
mCE3ill8B2L4DjwKBLJvvoNpyGQOTaeti7Y5WVL4g1aU5JNqLVGuP/560PxsSdcN
swHVhs7bxj4=
=Gdvu
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
 


There you have it.  BTW, this person's address was found by browsing
http://www.sdsc.edu and picking off the person responsible for
research in computer security.

Matt

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  
Matthew J. Malone
University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies 
SF4003, 978-3130/667-7731, e-mail: [log in to unmask]