Test your firewall...

[shiato storm]

i wonder - is this just a joke and it returns a 'your computer is safe' regardless?

[TheAnimus]

we should make one that tries half a dozen SSH exploits, and a few apache + php exploites + RPC

[BlackDwarf]

Secure. Double NATting (Router and Smoothwall box). Booyah.

[Kitty]

iv not got a fire wall on and dont all say i should have one, i dont want one hehe

[Kaine (AoD)]

i went on there and it at home and it crashed damn i feel secure!

[Rave]

I'm only running the windows XP firewall. I get 'closed but unsecure' on all but port 80, which is apparently open. I've never had any grief in the four or so years that I've been running XP, should I be worried?

[Agent]

I'm only running the windows XP firewall. I get 'closed but unsecure' on all but port 80, which is apparently open. I've never had any grief in the four or so years that I've been running XP, should I be worried?

No. The entire site is based on flawed logic.
Seriously, just ignore anything that comes from it. Its the PC world of online "security" sites.

[Paul Adams]

Ugh, I hate that these things give people a (possibly false) sense of security because a bunch of boxes are all green.
"I did not find a problem" is not the same as "there is no problem".

An online port scan is no substitute for responsible use, AV, malware & rootkit scans.

Most only check common service ports (21, 25, 80, 443, etc.), some only check reserved service ports (1-1024), while it is feasible for simple malware to use port-knocking or a high service port to listen on.

[GDVS]

Oh no, I'm not secure! Oh, wait, maybe there's a little more to this security business than whether a box is red or not...

[poindextermatic]

Well if you guys have any better ideas on how to test a firewall, please share.

[nichomach]

Ugh, I hate that these things give people a (possibly false) sense of security because a bunch of boxes are all green.
"I did not find a problem" is not the same as "there is no problem".
An online port scan is no substitute for responsible use, AV, malware & rootkit scans.

I hear the rattling chains of the Ghost of Gibson Past...

[Trippledence]

iv not got a fire wall on and dont all say i should have one, i dont want one hehe

Ok.

[TheAnimus]

a firewall isn't a particularly good way of making a PC safe. If your system is patched, it shouldn't need a firewall. Sometimes its useful to limit scope however, but in most cases there is little need for the deamon/service to be running in the first place, i can kinda see where he's comming from.

[javalord]

All this malarky about being safe and yet none of you have even thought about the enemy from within - outbound connections! So much for tech awareness!

[Stoo]

All this malarky about being safe and yet none of you have even thought about the enemy from within - outbound connections! So much for tech awareness!

Just because nobody posted it, doesn't mean that most of us aren't aware of it

[Lee H]

All this malarky about being safe and yet none of you have even thought about the enemy from within - outbound connections! So much for tech awareness!

NETSTAT -A TBH

All these sites do is set the alarms ringing on "Novice Users" who'll all go out to the nearest PC World and pick up the latest Norton Internet Security and then proceed to block their AOL connections (thank god! - wahoo)