How to find source and targhet of data transmissions

[Bret Busby]

On 02/03/2019, Colin Law <clanlaw at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, 2 Mar 2019 at 11:01, Bret Busby <bret.busby at gmail.com> wrote:
>> ...
>> I tried running that command, and got more outupt than I could go back
>> to the first lines of the output to see what was there, so, because
>> you mentioned the prospect of unattendedf updates ()which are supposed
>> to be disabled on this computer, I loaded Software Updater, and the
>> first screen that I saw, showed that it was installin packages. It did
>> not let me stop what it was doing, so I had to sever the Internet
>> connection, to stop it making unauthorised downloads.
>>
>> Then, the screen started flashing (?) black screens.
>>
>> I have no idea how the system updater has gone dirty, but, it appears
>> safest to disable the system updates, as the software appears to have
>> gone rabid, maliciously taking control of the system.
>>
>> So, I will reconnect to the Internet, send this message, and,
>> disconnect again, and, try to reconnect from time to time, to seek an
>> answer to this - I mayu have to use another computer to connect to the
>> Internet, to try to find a solution, as the operating system appears
>> to have made it toodangerous to connect this computer to the Internet.
>
> Whatever you do don't stop it while it is *installing* upgrades, you
> can end up with a non-working system if you do that.  If it is
> actually just *downloading* then that is ok.
> What is 'malicious' about automatically installing updates?  There may
> be a bug if it is doing that without your permission but it is most
> unlikely to be malicious.
>
> If you want to work out why it is doing it look in Software & Updates,
> in the Updates tab and see what the settings are.
>
> Colin
>

It was set to perform daily checks for updates.

Not to download or install.

It had overriddren the settings.

I have stopped it - there is now, not a file named
/etc/apt/sources.list, in this Ubuntu installation.

When I made that change, and subsequently reconnected the computer to
the Internet, the unauthorised downloading did not recur.

It is a (bad) bandaid fix, but, it is a fix.

My other main computer, that was more stabilised, requires me to
manually check for updates, which has not been done for a while, now,
as the Software Updater stopped displaying the packages that were to
be changed.

Unfortunately, it has become safer to disable software updates, as the
software updating facility has become unstable

So, no further software updates are performed, until they can be controlled..

-- 

Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia

..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
 Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
 "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
 A Trilogy In Four Parts",
 written by Douglas Adams,
 published by Pan Books, 1992

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