[Gllug] OT: Kindle Networking

[Richard W.M. Jones]

On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 09:25:17PM +0100, Mick Farmer wrote:
> Presumably data is flowing from my Kindle to my router and
> then on to Amazon but I have no way of monitoring that last
> step.  Any ideas?

I still think it's most likely just to be holding open a NAT-ed TCP
connection, but another possibility is that the Kindle is
reprogramming your router using either UPnP or NAT-PMP.  These two
protocols allows applications within your network to request that a
port be opened on the router for incoming connections.

If this sounds dodgy and insecure, why, yes it is!  Luckily most
routers let you turn this crap off.  Of the two, UPnP is the most
scary -- it was designed by Microsoft and is the most half-arsed
protocol I have ever seen.  NAT-PMP is at least an IETF standard.

Rich.

-- 
Richard Jones
Red Hat
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