What is Bonjour and am I in trouble?

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Level 2

219 points

What is Bonjour and am I in trouble?

Hey gang,

I'm doing some homework, but trying to figure out asap if my computer is compromised. I know little if anything about networking. I had Cyberduck (my FTP) application open and all of a sudden, I got an alert say8ing "Bonjour: arrisxb3atom.local. - SFTP" and that's all. I found a Bonjour menu in the application. I have NO idea what it means and may sound completely stupid for asking this, but is this any sort of sign that someone's trying to (or successfully is) tapping into my computer? I rebooted and it's still there.

Will keep digging, but if something's wrong or anyone can shed light, I'd like to know as soon as possible. Any input appreciated, sorry for the rookie, unresearched question.

dp

Posted on May 21, 2016 1:19 PM

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Answer 1

Old Toad

Level 10

215,346 points

May 21, 2016 1:25 PM in response to Dan Perkins

Bonjour is an app/feature for finding and connecting to devices on your network. It's included with every Mac.

https://www.apple.com/support/bonjour/

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Answer 2

Dan Perkins Author

Level 2

219 points

May 21, 2016 1:27 PM in response to Dan Perkins

I found "Discovered services appear in in the Bookmark → Bonjour application menu and the Bonjour tab of the bookmark view." on the Cyberduck help page, but still don't get it. What's a Bonjour discovered service? How did I discover it?

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Answer 3

Dan Perkins Author

Level 2

219 points

May 21, 2016 1:29 PM in response to Old Toad

but what am I connecting to? I've brought no new technology in my house in the past month. And nothing's named "arrisxb3atom". So I'm concerned I'm connecting to (and thus opening myself up to?) a neighbor's device?

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Answer 4

Aug 5, 2016 11:28 PM in response to Dan Perkins

"arrisxb3atom" is the internal name of Comcast Xfinity XB3 cable modems (likely an Arris TG1682G).

"Discovered services" are services (things that you can use/connect to) on devices that broadcast themselves over Bonjour.

Cable modems tend to be managed by the service provider, some Arris modems have USB ports for media or printer sharing. When enabled, the drives or printers connected to those USB ports may be advertised for use via Bonjour.

Service provides may enable additional features when updating modems. The Bonjour service you saw was a secure FTP service hosted by the modem.

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