Check Point Advisories

Security Best Practice: Blocking Gnutella

Check Point Reference:	SBP-2009-26
Date Published:	22 Dec 2009
Severity:	Medium
Last Updated:	Thursday 01 January, 2009
Source:	IPS Research Center
Protection Provided by:
Who is Vulnerable?	Gnutella users
Vulnerability Description	Gnutella is a popular file sharing network, and one of the most popular Peer to Peer protocols, used by applications such as BearShare, Shareaza, Morpheus and iMesh. File sharing applications are commonly used to exchange MP3 music files, videos, applications, and documents. The use of Gnutella may circumvent the organizational security policy.
Vulnerability Details	Peer to peer Internet traffic, such as Gnutella, slows critical business applications on corporate networks. It lowers employee productivity as they take time away from their work to download music and videos. This sort of traffic also significantly increases companies Internet communication costs and requires them to purchase additional bandwidth.