Customer Internet Security

Basic Requirements

An Internet Firewall reduces the risk of having your computer broken into and used, without your knowledge, to attack other computers, distribute spam, pornography, etc. The "hacker" who breaks into your computer could also look at the files on your machine and the files on machines connected to your computer.

ADSL customers using an adsl router can protect themselves by having their router also configured as a firewall. Customers using a modem/bridge will need to provide their own firewall device. Please consult one of our partners about stand alone or sophisticated firewalls.

Email virus protection reduces the risk of your machine catching a virus and infecting others. Skyway sells virus protection. See our Email Rates or consult one of our partners about other options.

Be aware of Internet security problems and respond quickly. For widespread and general security updates we recommend you register with the Cert Co-ordination Center.

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Ports Blocked for Security

Skyway offers a private networking service that by default blocks all incoming Internet traffic. The service can be customized for unique situations.

Our public networking service does not block any ports EXCEPT where there is a serious threat to our customers or the Internet. In particular, we act to prevent denial-of-service attacks. Our port blocking is not meant to replace updating your software or the measures you would normally take to protect against viruses.

Please contact support@sohoskyway.com if you need particular port(s) opened. At this point we are blocking:

  1. Linux.slapper.worm also known as Apache/mod_ssl worm and bugtraq.c worm.
    http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2002-23.html

    Blocking ports 2002/UDP,1978/UDP and 4156/UDP from entering or leaving our/your network

  2. MS-SQL Server Worm also referred to as the SQLSlammer, W32.Slammer, and Sapphire worm.
    http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2003-04.html

    Blocking port 1434/UDP from entering or leaving our/your network

  3. Buffer Overflow in Microsoft RPC
    http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2003-16.html

    Exploitation of Vulnerabilities in Microsoft RPC Interface
    http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2003-19.html

    First exploitation W32/Blaster worm
    http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2003-20.html

    Blocking all incoming traffic to the following ports:
    69/UDP
    135/TCP
    135/UDP
    139/TCP
    139/UDP
    445/TCP
    445/UDP
    4444/TCP

    * Blocking the above ports affects Windows File Sharing, TFTP (port 69), Kerberos authentication (4444/TCP) functions and Oracle 9i implementations. Contact support@sohoskyway.com if you need particular ports opened.

  4. RPCSS Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows
    http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2003-23.html

    Blocking all incoming traffic to and from the following ports:
    135/TCP
    135/UDP
    137/UDP
    138/UDP
    139/TCP
    445/TCP
    445/UDP
    593/TCP

    Contact support@sohoskyway.com if you need particular ports opened.

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ICMP Rate-Limit

Skyway has a rate-limit of 40 ICMP packets per second passing between the Internet and our network. The limit protects our customers from distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS), as well as, other ICMP abuses. TCP/IP traffic, which is typical web browsing, email and file transfer traffic, is NOT affected.

We receive a daily report of any user exceeding 1 ICMP packet per second (86,400 per day). We advise the user that this is a serious matter because high amounts of ICMP traffic will degrade the quality of your Internet service.

High amounts of ICMP traffic generally indicate a virus. If you have a virus, it is attempting to spread to other machines on your network or the Internet. The virus may even be attacking machines elsewhere on the Internet. We have no choice but to restrict your Internet service if we receive complaints your machines are disrupting other Internet users.

Please have ALL your computers checked for infections using the most up-to-date anti-virus DAT files available from your anti-virus software manufacturer.

Please contact Skyway Support if you suspect a problem and/or once you have solved it. We can also refer you to a computer networking company specializing in eradicating and preventing viruses.

If you believe you may have a problem with high ICMP traffic please email support@sohoskyway.com using the subject heading, "ICMP Traffic Abuse" and include your information in the following format:

Company Name: Your Company Name
Reported IP: 216.251.130.49
Number of packets recorded in the last 24 hrs.: 1050625

If this information is not available to you please describe the nature of the problem and either email or phone (604 482 1212) Support.

ICMP is also used for Internet diagnostic tools such as ping and traceroute. The rate-limit is high enough for these tools to work properly except when ICMP is being abused. If you require ICMP for diagnostic purposes, please request support@sohoskyway.com to exclude your management workstation from the ICMP rate-limit. Excluding your management workstation from the ICMP rate-limit also excludes it from any "Ports blocked for Security".

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