Testing your firewall security

mrmistoffelees · 31-07-2007, 11:47

Don't know if this has been posted before but the following link performs an online security port scan of your firewall and you can configure which ports you want it to scan.

https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

There's also tons of useful utilitys on there too !

Paul K · 31-07-2007, 12:05

Gibsons' site no doubt has been posted before but some of the stuff on it needs taking with a pinch of salt lol

mrmistoffelees · 31-07-2007, 12:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

Gibsons' site no doubt has been posted before but some of the stuff on it needs taking with a pinch of salt lol

Agreed, but he has got a couple of tricks up his sleeve

lauzjp · 31-07-2007, 12:19

no offence, but I think I'll be rerfraining from clicking any links whatsoever for a little while!

Paul K · 31-07-2007, 12:27

The link is the the "Shields Up" site that tests your firewall. Don't worry it's safe to click. It's also a HTTPS site so it's actually secured.

mrmistoffelees · 31-07-2007, 12:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by lauzjp

no offence, but I think I'll be rerfraining from clicking any links whatsoever for a little while!

Understandable, but completely secure website

monkey2468 · 31-07-2007, 12:53

Intresting, I have no router and only have the xp sp2 standard firewall and running all those test says i am 100% secure!?

Aragorn · 31-07-2007, 14:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by monkey2468

Intresting, I have no router and only have the xp sp2 standard firewall and running all those test says i am 100% secure!?

Why so surprised? The Windows firewall is pretty reasonable for free - where it mainly falls down is its (in)ability to prevent malware from connecting outbound. IIRC pretty much everything inbound is blocked by default.

mrmistoffelees · 31-07-2007, 14:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aragorn

Why so surprised? The Windows firewall is pretty reasonable for free - where it mainly falls down is its (in)ability to prevent malware from connecting outbound. IIRC pretty much everything inbound is blocked by default.

Also available on the GRC site is something called leaktest ?IIRC which checks to see if your firewall monitors such connections

EDIT: here it is http://www.grc.com/lt/leaktest.htm

31-07-2007, 14:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by monkey2468

Intresting, I have no router and only have the xp sp2 standard firewall and running all those test says i am 100% secure!?

Run leaktest from above link you will fail that

---------- Post added at 13:19 ---------- Previous post was at 13:18 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aragorn

Why so surprised? The Windows firewall is pretty reasonable for free - where it mainly falls down is its (in)ability to prevent malware from connecting outbound. IIRC pretty much everything inbound is blocked by default.

Vistas firewall has outbound protection but its off by default .I use a simple app called vista forewall control that turns it on ond uses it .Ive had no probs at all with this app for a month or 2

31-07-2007, 14:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

Gibsons' site no doubt has been posted before but some of the stuff on it needs taking with a pinch of salt lol

Indeed! Used to visit his site quite a lot and then realised that most of the time he was full of scaremongering.

Anonymouse · 31-07-2007, 16:29

The last time I checked, the site reckoned my PC was invisible on the Internet - unsurprising, as I've been using a router for a while. NAT is a very handy thing for security.

And that was a Linksys router which didn't have its own firewall. I now have a wireless US Robotics router, which does have a firewall, so unless I get careless - using IE, for example

- I should have nothing to worry about.

To the best of my knowledge, there's no way past a hardware firewall short of physical access...in which case the would-be hacker will have bigger problems than hacking my computer, as I''ll be busy hacking into him!

Hands off our forum, you filthy scrotes!!!

Aragorn · 31-07-2007, 16:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

To the best of my knowledge, there's no way past a hardware firewall short of physical access.

Not quite true

- there should be no direct way to get through a router firewall, but it is quite possible for you to unwittingly download a trojan that opens up a tunnel back to the would be hacker

That is where a 'decent' software firewall helps.

Pia · 31-07-2007, 16:53

It says one of my ports is visible but closed

And it said this

Quote:

Solicited TCP Packets: RECEIVED (FAILED) ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Â As detailed in the port report below, one or more of your system's ports actively responded to our deliberate attempts to establish a connection. It is generally possible to increase your system's security by hiding it from the probes of potentially hostile hackers. Please see the details presented by the specific port links below, as well as the various resources on this site, and in our extremely helpful and active user community.

31-07-2007, 16:58

better than being open lol