Possible method to prevent spread of CodeRed and other similar wo rms

[dave.goldsmith () intelsat com]

I mailed this earlier today but got a message that the incidents mailbox was
disabled so I am resending it.

Obviously firewalls, screening routers and whatever other tools people use
to guard their networks are configured to allow INCOMING connections from
the Internet to be initiated to their public web servers.  The web server
then responds and while the session exists, two way traffic is exchanged.

Is there normally any reason for a web server to initiate OUTBOUND
connections to the Internet?  If not, why not block such outbound packets?
The primary reason that I can think of for a web server to initiate Internet
traffic is if a system administrator is upgrading software and trying to
retrieve software patches from the Internet.  Usually, you could access
those files from a local network server or transfer the files via flopy/CD
or other media.

If an IIS (or any other) web server were to become infected with a worm that
then tried to spread, that system would be blocked from sending out viral
traffic.

Flaws, glaring omissions, or a good idea?

Dave Goldsmith


############################################################
This email message is for the sole use of the intended
recipient(s)and may contain confidential and privileged
information.  Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or 
distribution is prohibited.  If you are not the intended 
recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and 
destroy all copies of the original message.  Any views 
expressed in this message are those of the individual 
sender, except where the sender specifically states them 
to be the views of Intelsat, Ltd. and its subsidiaries.
############################################################

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This list is provided by the SecurityFocus ARIS analyzer service.
For more information on this free incident handling, management 
and tracking system please see: http://aris.securityfocus.com