Firewall Settings

[agent006]

I'm about to resurrect my ADSL setup, and would like to actually do something with the firewall in my router (rather than just ignore it and let anything through). I've bumbled along for a while with the NAT saving me from most things.

What ports should be open for normal internet/email/stuff useage, and what should be blocked up never to be seen again?

[rsvnigel]

Give us hint what router you've got and what applications you want to work, apart from web, email (POP3 & SMTP), FTP

[jvaughan]

roughly TCP / UDP

80 - http
110 - pop3
25 - SMTP
443 - https
22 - ssh

plus then if you want realvideo, ICQ, MSN MEssenger, Network Games .. there are loads.

www.chebucto.ns.ca/~rakerman/port-table.html

[marlboro]

If your 'Net' is behind a NAT/NAV connection then you should not worry, hackers look for easy targets.

You should think more about the security of your router and install decent AV software such as Symantec for incomming data.

[agent006]

It's a DLink DSL504. I just want general net use. I tried allowing the usual 80 25 110 etc on Zone Alarm but it still blocked lots of stuff.

[-bacchus-]

Have a look at www.portsdb.org
FTP, Telnet - Which ports you open depends on what you want to do....

[theexcession]

Unless you need to access your computer remotely - ie you need to connect to it from the Internet or you are providing services to other people on the internet then I STRONGLY recomend you stick with your NAT setup.

If you are planning to offer services (HTTP,FTP etc) to other Internet users then the answer is simple - you only open the ports that you need to offer a service on.

Once you have done this I seriously recomend you go to http://grc.com and get you ports scanned (oerrrr missus) - this will instantly alert you to any failings in your firewall config.

best
Ex

[agent006]

Yeah, i'm not ditching the NAT setup, just sorting the firewall settings in the router too.