Welcome to the NICER Protocol Deep Dive blog series! When we started researching what all was out on the internet way back in January, we had no idea we'd end up with a hefty, 137-page tome of a research report. The sheer length of such a thing might put off folks who might otherwise learn a thing or two about the nature of internet exposure, so we figured, why not break up all the protocol studies into their own reports?
So, here we are! What follows is taken directly from our National / Industry / Cloud Exposure Report (NICER), so if you don't want to wait around for the next installment, you can cheat and read ahead!
[Research] Read the full NICER report today
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Telnet (TCP/23)
It wasn't the first console protocol, but it's the stickiest.
TLDR
WHAT IS IT?One of the oldest remote console applications in use today on the internet.
HOW MANY?2,829,555 discovered nodes389,528 (13.7%) have Recog fingerprints for 36 total service families
VULNERABILITIES:Oddly, there are few remote code execution-style vulnerabilities, but plenty of default credentials and opportunities to eavesdrop on the same.
ADVICE:Never, ever expose Telnet to the internet.
ALTERNATIVES:SSH (Secure Shell) is the most straightforward alternative to Telnet, but consider the wisdom of exposing console access to the internet in the first place.
GETTING:Better! There was a 13% reduction from 2019 exposure.
Discovery details
Way back in RFC 15 (September 1969), Telnet was first described as “a shell program around the network system primitives, allowing a teletype or similar terminal at ..
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