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From: Brian Inglis <Brian.Inglis@SystematicSw.ab.ca>
Organization: Systematic Software
Subject: Re: Removing netcat from Cygwin
Message-ID: <39c63dfd-10c5-01b0-d3db-d37d37adb796@SystematicSw.ab.ca>
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 2021 10:40:00 -0700
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On 2021-02-16 10:05, Rodney Kissee via Cygwin wrote:
> My company identifies netcat as a hacking tool and is requiring it to be 
> removed from our version of Cygwin.  How can it be removed or can Cygwin be 
> downloaded without netcat included?
Package netcat is obsolete and has been replaced by nc; more modern replacements 
socat and socat2 support more protocols and faster links; none are base packages 
or dependencies of other packages so must be explicitly requested.

Many programs can be used as hacking tools: they can also be used as recovery 
tools. The above are the software equivalent of patch cables, used to work 
around when some parts of your network are not working because of 
misconfiguration or failure without backup links and you need to recover.

They may be particularly useful if your systems have been pwned by ransomware, 
much of your network is unusable or inaccessible, and your proprietary network 
restore tools don't work on what you still can use.
Worth bearing such considerations in mind in health care organizations. ;^>

-- 
Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

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