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
-
AerynOS Alpha Release Available
With a choice of several desktop environments, AerynOS 2025.08 is almost ready to be your next operating system.
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for more than two weeks.
-
RingReaper Malware Poses Danger to Linux Systems
A new kind of malware exploits modern Linux kernels for I/O operations.
-
Happy Birthday, Linux
On August 25, Linux officially turns 34.
-
VirtualBox 7.2 Has Arrived
With early support for Linux kernel 6.17 and other new additions, VirtualBox 7.2 is a must-update for users.
-
Linux Mint 22.2 Beta Available for Testing
Some interesting new additions and improvements are coming to Linux Mint. Check out the Linux Mint 22.2 Beta to give it a test run.
-
Debian 13.0 Officially Released
After two years of development, the latest iteration of Debian is now available with plenty of under-the-hood improvements.
-
Upcoming Changes for MXLinux
MXLinux 25 has plenty in store to please all types of users.
-
A New Linux AI Assistant in Town
Newelle, a Linux AI assistant, works with different LLMs and includes document parsing and profiles.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.