For a while now I've been trying out the above application which is set up to give an audible notification of probe attempts on my computer from the internet. It has days when the beeping is very frequent and it reports attempts at port 135, 139 et al. Is the internet really becoming as bad as this suggests?
Black Ice Defender
Oct 03, 2005
43 Replies
| For a while now I've been trying out the above application which is set up | to give an audible notification of probe attempts on my computer from the | internet. It has days when the beeping is very frequent and it reports | attempts at port 135, 139 et al. | Is the internet really becoming as bad as this suggests?
Yes :-(
Isn't port 139 one of the Windows networking 'broadcast' ports?
On 3 Oct 2005 08:10:15 GMT,it is alleged that snipped-for-privacy@isbd.co.uk spake thusly in uk.d-i-y:
Netbios Session port, Used by Windows file/print sharing, a likely port for script kiddies to poke around on looking for open default shares and the like.
The spread of high bandwidth (compared to dialup) internet connections into just about every corner of our planet has given many bored people the bandwidth to probe entire blocks of IP addresses. If 0.01% of computers have open shares, and they probe 100,000 addresses, they'll find 10 computers open. It's worthwhile for them sadly:(
Yes, and very friendly are windows machines when trying to find each other. I bet if he had a browse through My Network Places he'd find allsorts of things...
The really scary thing was the implication that you were previously connected to the 'net without a firewall. This means that your box is compromised, without a shadow of a doubt.
And yes, the 'net has been "as bad as this suggests" for years. I don't even bother wading through the firewall logs any more.
For me, it is telecom.sk that is doing the majority of the hacking attempts. There are a few others, mainly Asian, but the majority is Slovak origin. Complaint to the ISP got no response nor remedy.
Those are Windows File and Printer Sharing ports - they could be connection attempts by other machines that have poorly configured networking, or they could be malicious. There's not much point having the beeps turned on - if the firewall has stopped an intrusion you don't really need to know about it.
"becoming"? Where have you been for the past couple of years? It's estimated that an unprotected Windows machine will last about 20 minutes on the internet. At the height of the Blaster epidemic it was more like
5 minutes - by the time you'd gone online to get the fixes from Windows Update it was already too late.If you want a good free firewall try this one
formatting link
| It's | estimated that an unprotected Windows machine will last about 20 minutes | on the internet.
I can vouch for that. When changing my machine to XP I lost protection for a few mins on line, and got a virus. Took ages to clear it out :-(
No. Its a great sales tactic for firewall vendors tho. The vast majority of these pokes are innocent. Someone explained who does them and why a couple of years back, but I cant remember.
I had a scrappy old Win computer online for over a year with no firewall and it was never compromised. I seriously dont suggest doing that, fireall is a basic must have, but no its nothing like as bad as vendors want you to believe.
ukdiy is not a computer group....
NT
I think things are so bad that this newsgroup is turning into uk.comp.helpmefixmypc
uk.comp.homebuilt is the best place for this stuff
I'm no expert, but I regard a NAT router as the minimum viable defence mechanism. I wouldn't recommend anybody to connect directly to the Internet if they can help it.
provide but tried adding the extra subscribable bit which is where the warning beeps came in. They are going off now as I type.
No but the contributors here are a source of wisdom without becoming bogged down in the detail
It is possible to manage safely without any defence system with some computer systems. Your advice is spot on if you have Windows machines though.
set them/it to "do not bother me" setting.
I used to be forever examining firewall logs and tracing I.P addresses etc etc. used to have a dedicated p.c. running FreeSCO. Now I just have a Netgear firewall/router/switch thing running the internal network and doing firewalling etc (just plug and go.......... almost)
To keep my mind at ease I just pay a visit to
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and check everything is as it should be on his "shields-up" page every now and again and get on doing more important things.
:¬)
Maybe not, but each and every single user here has and operates a computer, as such, a justifiable subject for a DIY group me thinks.
We all eat too - how about some recipes?
I used Zone Alarm for a while before I realised it was crap.
There's a good idea.
Now, were someone to ask for a recipe for chicken breasts and peanut butter I could conjour something up.
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