Port 6667 vs 6666.

Guest · Posted: Sep 18, 2005 4:14pm Post subject: Port 6667 vs 6666.

We're having a little argument on my network right now over whether or not the IRCd should listen on port 6667.

The netadmin against 6667 says that it would stop a lot of flood bots.

Me and another netadmin who support 6667 says that any flooder worth his salt would know how to connect to 6666, and not lisetning on 6667 would just confuse users. (We cater to the gaming group, who aren't known for their intelligence.) This is because the current situation forces people to type "/server -m <server addr>:6666" VS "/server -m <server addr>" since mIRC is defaulted to go to port 6667.

Currently, the server listens on 6666, and if you try to connect to 6667, you get a Closing Link message of "This port is for servers only."

So which is better? Should 6667 be opened for ease of the users or leave it closed so that we may protect against certain flood bots?

w00t · Posted: Sep 18, 2005 4:53pm Post subject:

That's what is commonly termed "security through obscurity". The best way to protect against bots is to run a proactive, open policy (ie: tell people what you won't tolerate on the network) and to run services like ircdefender and others to back that up.

Tools736 · none Joined: 03 Oct 2005 Posts: 6

i am on webtv
i use 6667 if not work i try 7000

Guest · Posted: Oct 04, 2005 1:39pm Post subject:

Im pretty sure there would be no difference , if someone really wanted to flood your network a simple port change wouldn't prevent it. But that's my opinion Wink

UnDeRGoD · none Joined: 02 May 2006 Posts: 8

I think that the problem is not in the port but in the internet lames.

Scire · Newbie Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 84 Location: IRC

Security based on the premise that 'we are secure as long as no one finds us' is a bit short sighted.
If you let the flood/spam/whatever-bots dictate your entire network policy then you have already lost. Get to work on stopping the attacks while not confusing your users and making them jump through hoops because you don't want to.. that's my stance anyway. Wink

DeMiNe0 · Posted: May 03, 2006 9:25pm Post subject:

Changing your network port will do very little... If a user can connect on port 6666, then so can all 10k of his bots. The standard port for IRC is 6667. If someone new wants to join your network, chances are they will connect to 6667, see an error, then leave.

There are much better ways to protect against flooding... Most IRCd's have built in flood prevention features. Then you also have services like irc-defender, and neostats that will help you out if your ircd is flood defenceless.