a sign of compromise ?

[mikequest]

Hello everyone

I'm may be being a little paranoid here,
I have a laptop connected to the the net thru an adsl modem, when I switch off the laptop network interface,(thru system-config-network) the light of the laptop network card plugged in the router stays on ( green)

where as in my pc, when i do the same thing , the light of my pc network card goes off in the modem

is this a sign of compromise ? !


thanks

[jpollard]

It depends on the card. It is possible the interface is (the optical isolators,
and associated circuitry) can be getting their power from the ethernet
cable.

I agree, usually this should go out.

[roelj]

The way to test whether your system is compromised is by using a liveCD and see if it does the same..

[DBelton]

Also, it could possibly be due to having things.. such as "Wake on LAN" enabled in the network card.

If you have that enabled, the card has to stay powered on or it can't receive the magic packet to wake up your system.

[smr54]

The OP mentioned that the light goes off in Windows, so I'd guess that it's not WakeonLan. The liveCD test seems the best choice .

[stevea]

De-configuring the interface does not necessarily mean the PHY layer hardware is powered off or not reacting. It's not an issue IMO. Even using ethtool with "wol d" (wake on nothing) may not stop the phy from showing the link presence.

IIRC there is a method - very low in the interface control to select a "null" phy (each interface can have multiple phy's tho' it's rarely done on home/soho gear). And that should cause the active phy to disable and lose control of the LEDs.


Fuggidadit