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    Country Block

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved pfSense Packages
    691 Posts 79 Posters 733.3k Views
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    • D
      danswartz
      last edited by

      I run my own postfix mail server.  Probably 80% of the spam comes from russia, china, korea or japan.  I get no legitimate mail from anyone in those countries.  So, I will be installing this ASAP :)

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      • C
        cmb
        last edited by

        @tommyboy180:

        Thank you.
        You are right. Unfortunately, I don't feel bad. A country constantly scanning me or sending SPAM needs to be blocked on my network. I don't want them looking at my website, searching for vulnerabilities, or constantly trying to brute force my SSH server. I made it easy for me and those who get frustrated with trying to minimize the damage caused by these countries. Blocking the entire country could affect them, but I don't see how. If you did business with that country then you wouldn't block them but if you have no business then no harm done.
        Maybe more tools like this will cause countries to enforce laws more in the future. Who knows…

        Where feasible, it's sensible security policy regardless of where you are in the world - if you don't have to allow something, don't allow it. Many companies do no business outside of their own country or a select few countries, so why allow the entire Internet? As useful as it is for those in this thread, who look to be largely in the US, it's just as useful to those in countries some US companies may want to block. Abuse isn't limited to any particular country, it comes from all over. A Russian company that does no business in the US could drop off their spam and hack attempts considerably by blocking the US, where it's sensible for some US companies to do the opposite. The same way those of us in the US see all these attacks from Russia, China, India, Nigeria, and elsewhere, people in those countries see just as much abuse from hosts in the US and see it the same way in the same circumstances - unnecessary traffic that can be blocked entirely. This isn't limited to any country, and isn't that much about enforcing sensible policies on Internet users. That's largely done in the US, but a large portion of the spam and hack attempts we see come from the US.

        Keep in mind this can help a lot, but if you're being specifically targeted, may not provide the level of assurance you think it does. Every country has plenty of compromised hosts, or hosts that can be compromised, to use to launch attacks. It's a good measure to drop off things you know have no place being on your network, but still leaves plenty of exposure.

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        • P
          philrou
          last edited by

          to th enewbie guy, country block in the 1.23 packages not installed (if you're using 1.2.3 pfsense release).

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          • J
            JustinHoMi
            last edited by

            I'm having trouble with this package. After I click save, it says "Current status = Running". But a few minutes later it will stop running. Any ideas on how to debug this?

            FYI, I only have the "Top Spammers" checked.

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            • T
              tommyboy180
              last edited by

              @JustinHoMi:

              I'm having trouble with this package. After I click save, it says "Current status = Running". But a few minutes later it will stop running. Any ideas on how to debug this?

              FYI, I only have the "Top Spammers" checked.

              Are you making changes to firewall settings? Please read the FAQ on the first post.

              -Tom Schaefer
              SuperMicro 1U 2X Intel pro/1000 Dual Core Intel 2.2 Ghz - 2 Gig RAM

              Please support pfBlocker | File Browser | Strikeback

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              • J
                JustinHoMi
                last edited by

                No, this happens without making any firewall changes.

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                • T
                  tommyboy180
                  last edited by

                  @JustinHoMi:

                  No, this happens without making any firewall changes.

                  To help you better I need more info.
                  Version of pfsense:
                  packages installed:
                  How you applying the package:
                  After it's running, when do you notice it's not:

                  -Tom Schaefer
                  SuperMicro 1U 2X Intel pro/1000 Dual Core Intel 2.2 Ghz - 2 Gig RAM

                  Please support pfBlocker | File Browser | Strikeback

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                  • J
                    JustinHoMi
                    last edited by

                    I'm using pfsense 1.2.3.

                    I installed the package with the web interface. When configuring it, I click enable, commit, and save. However, usually after clicking commit, it disables the Enable checkbox. So it's more like enable, commit, enable, save.

                    I notice it's not running after waiting a few minutes then going back to the Country Block configuration page.

                    # pkg_info
                    arc-5.21o_1         Create & extract files from DOS .ARC files
                    arj-3.10.22_1       Open-source ARJ
                    arj-3.10.22_3       Open-source ARJ
                    bandwidthd-2.0.1_1  Tracks bandwidth usage by IP address
                    clamav-0.96.1       Command line virus scanner written entirely in C
                    cyrus-sasl-2.1.22_1 RFC 2222 SASL (Simple Authentication and Security Layer)
                    cyrus-sasl-2.1.23   RFC 2222 SASL (Simple Authentication and Security Layer)
                    denyhosts-2.5       Script to thwart ssh attacks
                    gd-2.0.35,1         A graphics library for fast creation of images
                    gdbm-1.8.3_3        The GNU database manager
                    havp-0.91_1         HTTP Antivirus Proxy
                    jpeg-6b_4           IJG's jpeg compression utilities
                    lha-1.14i_6         Archive files using LZSS and Huffman compression (.lzh file
                    libiconv-1.11_1     A character set conversion library
                    lightsquid-1.7.1_1  A light and fast web based squid proxy traffic analyser
                    mysql-client-5.1.44_1 Multithreaded SQL database (client)
                    ntop-3.3.8          Network monitoring tool with command line and web interface
                    openldap-client-2.4.10 Open source LDAP client implementation
                    openldap-client-2.4.11 Open source LDAP client implementation
                    openldap-client-2.4.22 Open source LDAP client implementation
                    p5-GD-2.39          A perl5 interface to Gd Graphics Library version2
                    pcre-7.9            Perl Compatible Regular Expressions library
                    pcre-8.00           Perl Compatible Regular Expressions library
                    pcre-8.02           Perl Compatible Regular Expressions library
                    perl-5.10.1         Practical Extraction and Report Language
                    perl-5.10.1_1       Practical Extraction and Report Language
                    perl-5.8.8_1        Practical Extraction and Report Language
                    perl-5.8.9_3        Practical Extraction and Report Language
                    python24-2.4.3_3    An interpreted object-oriented programming language
                    snort-2.8.6_1       Lightweight network intrusion detection system
                    squid-2.7.9         HTTP Caching Proxy
                    squid_radius_auth-1.10 RADIUS authenticator for squid proxy 2.5 and later
                    stunnel-4.25        SSL encryption wrapper for standard network daemons
                    unzoo-4.4_2         A zoo archive extractor
                    
                    
                    
                    From the web interface:
                    Country Block
                    Dashboard
                    Dashboard Widget: Antivirus Status
                    Dashboard Widget: HAVP
                    Dashboard Widget: Snort
                    HAVP antivirus
                    Lightsquid
                    OpenVPN Status
                    bandwidthd
                    ntop
                    snort
                    squid
                    stunnel
                    
                    

                    All the latest versions except squid, which looks like it was updated today.

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                    • T
                      tommyboy180
                      last edited by

                      Something is regenerating your firewall settings I think. Every time rules.debug is run your country block package stops running. I have been running country block for a month now without errors or interruption.

                      Start to eliminate variables. Disable packages and services and start to narrow it down. If you want to help me get to the bottom of this now email me your config and I can probably give you an answer within the hour.

                      -Tom Schaefer
                      SuperMicro 1U 2X Intel pro/1000 Dual Core Intel 2.2 Ghz - 2 Gig RAM

                      Please support pfBlocker | File Browser | Strikeback

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                      • J
                        JustinHoMi
                        last edited by

                        Ok I'll start disabling packages and see what happens. If I can't figure it out I'll send you my config.

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                        • J
                          JustinHoMi
                          last edited by

                          I disabled everything I could and no luck. What sections of the config should I send you?

                          Thanks for offering to look at it for me.

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                          • T
                            tommyboy180
                            last edited by

                            If you don't mind just send me the entire config.

                            -Tom Schaefer
                            SuperMicro 1U 2X Intel pro/1000 Dual Core Intel 2.2 Ghz - 2 Gig RAM

                            Please support pfBlocker | File Browser | Strikeback

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                            • J
                              JustinHoMi
                              last edited by

                              That's fine. Just got to edit the config. I'll send it to you in a sec.

                              Edit: Sent. Thanks!

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                              • S
                                Supermule Banned
                                last edited by

                                No probs here either. :)

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                                • S
                                  SP0
                                  last edited by

                                  @tommyboy180:

                                  @csnf:

                                  I get file system errors trying to write.

                                  I can look further into this, I usually don't support nanobsd because of special exceptions I make.
                                  The script is getting hung up on creating two files, countries.txt and lists/countries.txt. Perhaps you can make these files and modify the permissions so they cannot be removed.

                                  Were you able to look further into this - or can you provide a little more detail on how to fix?  I have the same issue (pfSense 1.2.3 on Alix).  Thanks.

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                                  • M
                                    mgc6288
                                    last edited by

                                    I must be doing something wrong, or am finding the wrong IP of spammed emails.  First, I have nearly every country checked, including the Dominican Republic.  I've still received a few emails and my mail server separates them and lists their IP in the subject line for me.  Recently I found one with an IP of 200.42.239.139 which as stated here:

                                    http://ip-address-lookup-v4.com/lookup.php?ip=200.42.239.139

                                    Points to the Dominican Republic.  Am I finding a fake IP from the sender?  Thanks.

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                                    • S
                                      Supermule Banned
                                      last edited by

                                      Depending on what the spammer uses as relay….

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                                      • K
                                        kpa
                                        last edited by

                                        Look at the last ip address before your own email server in the received headers, that's the IP address checked by country block.

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                                        • T
                                          tommyboy180
                                          last edited by

                                          Version 1.4 released.

                                          Added logging option.
                                          Added missing country. (India is in the top 10 list)
                                          Fixed misspellings.
                                          Changed installation process.

                                          -Tom Schaefer
                                          SuperMicro 1U 2X Intel pro/1000 Dual Core Intel 2.2 Ghz - 2 Gig RAM

                                          Please support pfBlocker | File Browser | Strikeback

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                                          • M
                                            mgc6288
                                            last edited by

                                            @tommyboy180:

                                            Version 1.4 released.

                                            Added logging option.
                                            Added missing country. (India is in the top 10 list)
                                            Fixed misspellings.
                                            Changed installation process.

                                            After some looking around…is the logging feature located under status --> system logs --> Firewall?

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