NetBIOS probes

increasing and annoying

[toadhall]

I've had 316 NetBIOS probes stopped by my firewall today. That's between 7:45 am and 4:00 pm (pst).

Anyone else seeing this?

Any speculation as to cause?

T

[anon1]

Hi,

One cause of increased NetBIOS probes is due to the newer "NetBIOS Spam". Newer Windows OS's have a Messenger Service (not Microsft's MSN Messenger) which is a newer version of the old Winpopup application.

Spammers are starting to address advertising directly to the Messenger Service which will bypass your browser. Most firewalls are not configured to stop it because the same port is also used by the RPC protocol.

As these spammers gear up efforts don't be surprised to see those "Increase your thingy size" advertisments pop up right in the middle of your spreadsheet work.

Google on 'messenger spam' for details.

[toadhall]

Thanks anon1. I'm embarassed I hadn't read of this earlier. Must be getting out too often. ;)

I haven't had anything popup, Messenger isn't running and my firewall's set high, but this note from the WiredNEWS article returned by your suggested search term is worth considering by anyone who hasn't taken steps:

Now that spammers have pioneered the Windows Messenger technology, worm writers may be next to target the service,...

T