so somebody within the network is port scanning you? Why would IT laugh at you if you told them? Do you think that the IT dept wants rogue systems on their network?
Are your network addresses public or private?
Port scanning can be done for a variety of reasons. In many instances, a potentially unethical hacker or malicious program is attempting to gather intelligence. The first step is to make the determination of who's responsibility it is to deal with the problem. You have to determine if something unethical is going on, if so, then whoever is responsible for the network in question should probably take action. If it is from inside your universities private network, then it is definitely something the IT would want to know about if they did not already know. IF the scanning is comming from the Internet, then it is somebody else's problem, and you should harden your system and employ the use of a firewall. Just because its somebody else's problem doesn't mean that they don't want to know about it. Portscanning and network mapping on the internet is extremely common and a notable amount of bandwidth is actually occuring because of unethical activities. As a result, you should be conscientious and careful what systems you trust.
