this post was submitted on 09 Jul 2025
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Nice big old port scan. Brand new server too. Just a few days old so there is nothing to find. Don't worry I contacted AWS. Stay safe out there.

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[–] [email protected] 69 points 4 days ago (1 children)

You contacted Amazon over a port scan?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Yes. Don't port scan my shit.

[–] [email protected] 64 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Umm..

You know how that works, right? Like, if you don't want to expose ports, just... don't expose them. But you can't prevent port scanning.

I would love to see the support request from AWS for this.

Edit: also, I think "script kiddy" is a bit of a stretch here.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (4 children)

I don't have any open ports. I do not care if I did. Port scanning is not authorized traffic.

I would love to see the support request from AWS for this.

Here you go:

Mandiant ASM scanners perform a variety of security-related data-gathering tasks, all intended to positively identify assets and their security posture. The gathered information is analyzed by our research team and proactively published to the owners of this information through our freemium product. No Collection task performed requires authorized access. It is intentionally designed to be light. While your IDS or WAF may have alerted on these scans, these are benign flags and are not indicative of malicious behavior.

If you have further questions, or would like to opt-out, please reply to this message and you will be routed to the appropriate team.

[–] [email protected] 49 points 4 days ago (2 children)

port scanning is not authorized traffic

Hahahahahaha

And?

[–] [email protected] 33 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I think they have a LOT to learn about how the internet 'works' as well as how the internet works.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Thing is, for the average consumer of the internet, they have no real concept what's going on behind the webpage with the fancy graphics they happen to be looking at. When I try to explain to them that bots comprise conservatively 40-50% of all internet traffic which is about ~2 zettabytes per 24 hour period, they still don't get it. And really, they don't have to, that's the job of sysadmin. It's still pretty mind blowing.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago (2 children)

And abuse forms get filled out

[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Bro. AWS can do jack shit, that's not how it works. You might as well call Toyota next time you see a Camry speeding. All you're going to do is annoy people who in no way can help you with a problem that is your responsibility. I can guarantee they'll tell you you should use private VPCs and entrypoints with security groups, which is what every AWS tutorial starts out by telling you to use.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Port scanning in and of itself is not really abuse.

Being a script kiddie that’s abusing AWS abuse report process on the other hand…

[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 days ago (1 children)

In other words their response was “hey dumbass here’s what happened, now move along”. They didn’t do anything except school you.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Dude there is a weird disconnect going on in the comments. Yes bots are thing, yes services are abused, yes not everyone plays nice on the Internet, yes you can't control what traffic comes in. I know I'm going to be seeing more this and yes I'm obviously not going to be responding to every one of them.

It was my brand new server's first and I felt like celebrating the event by filling out the AWS abuse form. It was literally copy and paste.

Also, I'm not fussed about what ever services they are running. I didn't ask for it or want it. I told them as much and I going to leave it at that.

No one got schooled. There is nothing wrong with telling someone who shows up at your business to please don't come back. Y'all need to chill.

Well this whole thing was fun but I'm going to get on with my day

[–] [email protected] 28 points 4 days ago

I don't think anyone here disagrees that port scanning is bad, nor that you even filed an aws ticket. And congrats on your live service.

But your answers to comments are weird, like this is not only your first server or vps experience with a public interface, but your first time exposing anything to the public web. And even if that's true, there's a first time for everyone.

But man, doubling down and insisting that "port scanning is unauthorized traffic" betrays a certain naivete about how tcpip works.

What you are seeing is not only normal, but AWS can't do anything about it because that's how IP source and destination sockets work.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Port scanning is not authorized traffic.

Lol what

I think you should read the terms of your AWS contract. How do you think aws moves instances if not for agents gathering metrics?

And this case is Mandiant, so you're fine.

Are you sure you're ready for AWS?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago
[–] TheKMAP 2 points 4 days ago

You have bad takes, so my recommendation is to not block Mandiant ASM so that they are able to find stuff, if you mess up.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)

"Good luck with that."

I realize you're inexperienced and excited, but this is truly no big deal. Port scans are quite common and aren't even always malicious. You can use nmap to scan systems yourself - just to see what's out there or to test if your firewalls are woking, etc.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 days ago

And the first time I used nmap on my college network, a professor called up the help desk to report that he had been port scanned.

Then my freind at the help desk told me not to run nmap again and to wait until after dark to pull all the reel to reel tapes out of the dumpster….