IRC down?

I’m having the same problem. I just gave up and figured I’d try to get on again later.

ITS blocked ALL IRC ports today. Princess is trying to get 6668 opened back up.

Official word from the president. IRC ports are NOT blocked. IRC protocol IS blocked. I’m trying to get them to open up irc.gamesurge.net on port 7000 or 8080. We’ll see where it goes. We may have to set up a proxy server if all else fails.

Falcon said:

i’m back in right now… still, ITS has really gotta start thinking here. at LEAST tell us why

This works now.

http://www.wcugaming.org/irc.php for on and off campus people.

Falcon said:

i’m back in right now… still, ITS has really gotta start thinking here. at LEAST tell us why

As an RCC, you should know exactly why. The vast majority of malware use irc protocols to send information back to the malware author. I can see where they are coming from. I’m trying to get them to unblock Gamesurge specifically, because most viruses if not all, do not use Gamesurge to send data to the author.

ITS blocked IRC ports last year in an attempt to stop viruses from spreading across the virtual lans between dorms. The blocks didn’t even slow that specific virus down but they continued the block anyway.

They aren’t going to open port 8080 because that would let people host websites from dorms. Port 7000 is the only option unless they are willing to unrestrict traffic to Gamesurge.

We may want to look at an off campus proxy or see if ITS can configure a port forwarding service for IRC use. Perhaps forward something crazy like port 32438 to outbound 6668.

President Kuros said:

As an RCC, you should know exactly why. The vast majority of malware use irc protocols to send information back to the malware author. I can see where they are coming from. I’m trying to get them to unblock Gamesurge specifically, because most viruses if not all, do not use Gamesurge to send data to the author.

yes, this is true… but didn’t we already converse with them about this? did they block it because of a visible outbreak of something new? In any case, if we want to maintain irc then we need to reach some middle grounds on this with them, like mitch’s suggestion about forwarding or your suggestion about just opening gamesurge, or (to the same complaints I got saying this last time) maybe we could have aphro host irc once again?

plus, to networking if you read this: my recommendation would be not just to block this but to have an irc tracker… same way that limewire is found and all, monitor where the :6667 traffic is from, and going to… I wouldn’t mind going and searching for computers that we know have spyware and fix them.

and just a dumb question, if malware figures out how to effectively use vent as a modem-like communication media, will it go too?

Princess luvs Kuros said:

Actually, they have been rather helpful. I talked to Stephen Wilson today, he said they changed something on the packetshaper today to get another program to work to try and it blocked the ports. But, he said that the IRC protocols should of already been blocked beforehand. Stephen said that the ports were blocked because of malware and viruses. He told me he was going to talk to Scott S about getting everything up for us, and was very helpful about trying to help the gaming club. Shane also emailed him about getting irc.gamesurge.net open and closing everything else, as mentioned above.

kk. I mean, the people there are extremely helpful, I’ll never question that, but sometimes things are effected without announcement…

MasterP said:

ITS blocked IRC ports last year in an attempt to stop viruses from spreading across the virtual lans between dorms. The blocks didn’t even slow that specific virus down but they continued the block anyway.

 

They aren’t going to open port 8080 because that would let people host websites from dorms. Port 7000 is the only option unless they are willing to unrestrict traffic to Gamesurge.

 

We may want to look at an off campus proxy or see if ITS can configure a port forwarding service for IRC use. Perhaps forward something crazy like port 32438 to outbound 6668.

isn’t 8080 just https:// ? I know I’ve hosted :80 before *cough*.

I’d agree with the port forwarder…

Technically you can use any port you want to host an http server. I’m sure the packetshaper blocks requests for http protocol on anything but wcu.edu webservers rather than port blocking. It’s so easy to get around a port block that they primarily block protocols anyways.