Cunning old rascals!

[manveruppd]

So Kerio pops up an Incoming Connection Alert, and, in the details tab, it reads

Someone from before.you.send.an.abuse.email.about.being.portscanned.visit.http.security.gamesurge.net [64.71.165.195], port 39796 wants to connect to port 1080 owned by 'Microsoft Office Outlook' on your computer

If I didn't know better...
In fact I was almost tempted to go to the URL just to see what kind of junk they're selling, but I didn't feel like spending 3 hours fishing the spyware out of my hard disk later!

 

[Al Vallario]

The site reads (in summary):

GameSurge performs Active Proxy Detection on all newly connecting clients to our network. We implemented this system in order to stop the abuse of unsecured WinGates and various other unsecured and openly accessible proxies. This has more recently been expanded on with the introduction of ProxyCheck services.

If you are being scanned by 64.71.165.195 this is our automated ProxyCheck service. This is performed automatically to people who connect to the GameSurge IRC Network.

We have instituted these measures in order to protect our users from other people who would use these proxies to attack and annoy the general network population and the network itself. This test is standard among virtually ALL irc networks at this time.

GameSurge is a large, very well known IRC network

 

[Willowbark]

TOTALLY off topic but...

nice sig Al Vallario

 

[manveruppd]

Hey if it walks like a scam and talks like a scam, I'm gonna assume it's a scam If Gamesurge are doing it, it's only a matter of time before a less scrupulous operator uses a similar-sounding message to get people to visit their site. Better paranoid than sorry!

 

[The_KiD]

Indeed it is a legitimate port scan from GameSurge IRC network, which I am guessing you connected to at the time.