On Sun, Nov 19, 2000 at 04:30:12PM -0500, Mike Johnson wrote:
I've been reading this thread, and from the get go I've been wondering why an ISP would consider filtering SMB, SSH, telnet, or any other well used protocol. I suppose I'm under the opinion that an ISP should let their customers shoot themselves in the foot.
Because the majoriy of one's customers are clueless morons, open to being owned by the 31337-haX0rs of the world. So it is better to block it by default, and open it where requested, than to leave it open and thereby be the source of a massive DoS that gets your IP blackholed to major networks, your business disrupted, and possibly your equipment confiscated by overzealous FBI or Secret Service agents. Better a couple of customers briefly pissed off than a lot of customers pissed off at length.