Network security and ICMP

[Stacy Pober]

The computer center at our college recently changed the college's
firewall settings so that ICMP commands such as Ping and Traceroute
cannot be sent OUT from our campus. 

I understand why a site might want to block incoming ICMP.  Some sites
do this to prevent denial-of-service attacks that are done with a flood
of ping requests.  But I'm baffled as to how our security is enhanced by
blocking OUTGOING pings and traceroutes.  And since I use these
protocols for helping to diagnose specific problems, I'm trying to
figure out if this setting is necessary or just over-cautious on the
part of our IT people.  

Is outgoing ping and traceroute a threat to a site?  Is blocking this
routine?  I don't know how other campuses are set up with regard to
their firewall and security measures. 

-- 
Stacy Pober
Information Alchemist
Manhattan College Libraries
Riverdale, NY 10471
http://www.manhattan.edu/library