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I use ZoneAlarm which I find to be very good. I tested it using the ShieldsUp website which told me that my ports were all hidden.
But I tried port scanning myself and some ports showed up and the scan wasnt shown by ZA.
Maybe i'm missing the point as I'm still pretty new to this.
Also, how is the IP Address of a certian person found, or are port scans just massive scans of a certain server?
Port scanning yourself isn't particularly reliable. It depends on what your security settings for zone alarm were. I think zone alarm is setup by default to allow your nic to address any port it wants and that is probably why you saw ports that were open when the ShieldsUp didn't. I suspect if you look at your security settings, you will find that the NIC is permitted access to anything. If not, list what the settings are (sanitize any ip's/names), and I will help you have a looksee.
Neb
On the same not, port scanning from the local host won't reflect accurately because : firewalls are often configured to deny the inbound access on a port. an external scan will see the port as closed from the outside. When coming from inside the machine, the firewall will allow access out on the port to establish a connection to permit you access to various network services (ie https, ssh, telnet, ftp, pop3, etc.)
Hope that helps.
A bit of a different topic but, if someone has your IP address, what stuff can they do with it?
i.e. DOS, Telnet, etc
That is all dependant on your OS, what services you are running, and what you are having your firewall pass through, etc. (ie running Redhat w/ telnet, ssh, and http enabled, though you have ssh and http filtered by the firewall (iptables), an attacher may be able to leverage you through telnet. This isn't to say you are completely safe on the SSH and HTTP services, but if they are firewalled, you are safer than not being filtered. ) Moral of the story - you can't be too secure.Quote:
A bit of a different topic but, if someone has your IP address, what stuff can they do with it?
i.e. DOS, Telnet, etc
Your IP address is your unique location on the network you are connectted to. SO if you are directly connect to the internet and have a public address assigned direct to you system (Via and ISP) then you system lives directly on the internet and is addressable if someone can find you ip address. Many folks from what I am told, will scan blocks of address for vulnerable systems. It is time consuming but what is processor time to someone who has nothing better to do. Once you fine a vulnerable system and exploit can be run against that particular vulnerability you found. Hence the reason for Firewalls. I am not a fan of software firewalls, Just my preference) I would rather sit behind a router the is doing NAT, and has firewall technology build into it. (there are consumer grade products that are under $100.00) Also, If a person knows your IP address and they have the ability they can launch DoS attack or DDoS attack against that IP address. This usually happen with webservers since what it does is basically eat up all the available bandwidth the server would be using to answer legitimate requests by having to answer these illegitimate requests.
As far as port scanning I agree with the guys above. I do not know how accurate your scan is going to be launching it from the same host you are attempting to scan. It's link ping loop back 127.1.1.0 address which will tell you if IP is installed and working properly but will not tell you if you have a network connection to anything else...or if your TCP/IP configuration is correct...
Im not sure about this but couldn't someone just scan then plant someone elses IP address?