Hey guys,I respectfully suggest you all visit this site and get a free health check:https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2Having purchased and used Steve Gibson's excellent 'SpinRite' to thoroughly check my HDs I have the greatest respect for this man's abilities and integrity. I came across ShieldsUP! today and, never having been sure just how secure my Internet connection is, I decided to run his battery of tests. How reassuring it was to be told that as far as Internet Vulnerabilities are concerned, I have been advised that my PC passed every test and that "this machine does not exist on the Internet".Certainly worth doing. The various tests don't take long to complete.Mike

Hey guys,I respectfully suggest you all visit this site and get a free health check:https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2Having purchased and used Steve Gibson's excellent 'SpinRite' to thoroughly check my HDs I have the greatest respect for this man's abilities and integrity. I came across ShieldsUP! today and, never having been sure just how secure my Internet connection is, I decided to run his battery of tests. How reassuring it was to be told that as far as Internet Vulnerabilities are concerned, I have been advised that my PC passed every test and that "this machine does not exist on the Internet".Certainly worth doing. The various tests don't take long to complete.Mike

Stealth when it comes to PC's is very important. One of the biggest issues I see is that of an unsecured router. In my own neighborhood it is not uncommon to see a half dozen unsecured "linksys" networks online. Most people buy a router and do nothing to secure it. People should at least rename their network to give it a meaningful name, hide the network, password secure it, and enable the hardware firewall (which has not caused any hiccups on any website I've visited). Yes, it creates extra steps when you want to add a device on the network, but it is entirely worth it for peace of mind. -JohnHere were my results from the site:Your Internet port 139 does not appear to exist!One or more ports on this system are operating in FULL STEALTH MODE! Standard Internet behavior requires port connection attempts to be answered with a success or refusal response. Therefore, only an attempt to connect to a nonexistent computer results in no response of either kind. But YOUR computer has DELIBERATELY CHOSEN NOT TO RESPOND (that's very cool!) which represents advanced computer and port stealthing capabilities. A machine configured in this fashion is well hardened to Internet NetBIOS attack and intrusion.Unable to connect with NetBIOS to your computer.All attempts to get any information from your computer have FAILED. (This is very uncommon for a Windows networking-based PC.) Relative to vulnerabilities from Windows networking, this computer appears to be VERY SECURE since it is NOT exposing ANY of its internal NetBIOS networking protocol over the Internet.Your system has achieved a perfect "TruStealth" rating. Not a single packet

Stealth when it comes to PC's is very important. One of the biggest issues I see is that of an unsecured router. In my own neighborhood it is not uncommon to see a half dozen unsecured "linksys" networks online. Most people buy a router and do nothing to secure it. People should at least rename their network to give it a meaningful name, hide the network, password secure it, and enable the hardware firewall (which has not caused any hiccups on any website I've visited). Yes, it creates extra steps when you want to add a device on the network, but it is entirely worth it for peace of mind. -JohnHere were my results from the site:Your Internet port 139 does not appear to exist!One or more ports on this system are operating in FULL STEALTH MODE! Standard Internet behavior requires port connection attempts to be answered with a success or refusal response. Therefore, only an attempt to connect to a nonexistent computer results in no response of either kind. But YOUR computer has DELIBERATELY CHOSEN NOT TO RESPOND (that's very cool!) which represents advanced computer and port stealthing capabilities. A machine configured in this fashion is well hardened to Internet NetBIOS attack and intrusion.Unable to connect with NetBIOS to your computer.All attempts to get any information from your computer have FAILED. (This is very uncommon for a Windows networking-based PC.) Relative to vulnerabilities from Windows networking, this computer appears to be VERY SECURE since it is NOT exposing ANY of its internal NetBIOS networking protocol over the Internet.Your system has achieved a perfect "TruStealth" rating. Not a single packet — solicited or otherwise — was received from your system as a result of our security probing tests. Your system ignored and refused to reply to repeated Pings (ICMP Echo Requests). From the standpoint of the passing probes of any hacker, this machine does not exist on the Internet. Some questionable personal security systems expose their users by attempting to "counter-probe the prober", thus revealing themselves. But your system wisely remained silent in every way. Very nice.

That is the one thing that always gets my goat. The proper term for people who break in to systems with malicious intent is a "cracker", not a "hacker". A hacker exposes security vulnerabilities to get them fixed, a cracker attempts to exploit it and try to do things that are malicious.

That is the one thing that always gets my goat. The proper term for people who break in to systems with malicious intent is a "cracker", not a "hacker". A hacker exposes security vulnerabilities to get them fixed, a cracker attempts to exploit it and try to do things that are malicious.

I think if the site used the term "cracker" when it is meant to educate the general public would simply confuse the intended audience. "Hacker" is used so commonly its meaning has changed. Even in my profession (systems engineering) my colleagues use the term hacker to describe malicious attacks. I've never heard anyone use the term "cracker" in some two decades of I.T. engineering and support although I have seen the term in print. Even Cliff Stoll (author of the Cuckoo's Egg) used the term "Hanover Hacker" to describe the antagonist in his novel. -John

Thanks Mike for the link to this site. Very useful and informative. I scored very high as well, but serves to remind that we decent people can not let our guard down when it comes to protecting ourselves from such viral threats involving the internet. (Yes, . . . . pun intended).Best regards,Mel

In my own neighborhood it is not uncommon to see a half dozen unsecured "linksys" networks online

Read the rollover text on this comic. It is beyond true. http://xkcd.com/466/ On my basic Linksys router, the simple firewall it has in it allowed me to pass these tests on both my computers, and my FS computer only has the windows firewall. (The other guy has McAfee).

On my basic Linksys router, the simple firewall it has in it allowed me to pass these tests on both my computers, and my FS computer only has the windows firewall. (The other guy has McAfee).

Yup, I only have a router and no software on my computer. Never even messed with the router besides putting a password on the WiFi...passed with flying colors.. :(

Thanks, I will recommend this site to my friends.

I've used Steve Gibson's site for years. Anytime I add a new computer to the local network, I check it out. Everything runs through my router (was LinkSys, now a Belkin), and its hardware firewall is locked down tight..."Full Stealth Mode" baby! That's the only way to live on line... ;)

yes I have used grc for ages and yes it is good - there are, however other avenues available for hackers/crackers and other theives. One of the most prevalent is the harvesting of names and other information from forums, like Avsim. Never, ever, ever use your full name on a forum, nor divulge any personal information, it will be captured. I note that there are sections of Avsim that demand, quite vigourously, that you use your full name with any posts, this is bad and should not be supported by Avsim.

Hello everyone.Make sure you follow gnh's advise, NEVER put any personal information on the system you connect to INet, turn your computer off when not needed, and don't blindly trust these sites. They are a good starting point, but I intentionally left an opening in my system, that I know it can be penetrated with some extra effort, and I got a clean bill of health. Be careful. TV

Am I missing something? I ran the first three tests on my laptop with my normal set up, then with all fire walls and AV off. I got the same results. The only thing I failed was ping reply with either set up. :( Bob

Interesting comments...Germany's top legal body in Karlsruhe has just passed a verdict on a case that makes the operators of open, unsecured WiFi networks responsible for copyright infringements that occurred via their open network, though it does not go all the way to making the operators fully liable to pay all damages...It is still a clear signal to everyone here in Germany to ensure that private WiFi networks are closed off to roaming users, usinig the firewall settings, MAC address filtering, password protected interface, possibly not even accessible via the WAN interface of the router, wireless encryption and so on.I wonder how many other cases in other countries there have been / will be...Andrew

Hello everyone.>Germany's top legal body in Karlsruhe has just passed a verdict on a case that makes the operators of open, unsecured WiFi networks responsible for copyright infringements that occurred via their open network,

....But then again it seems to me that Europeans are more interested in getting their 6 weeks vacation, a year, rather than keeping their leaders accountable.....

It really irks me when I read things like this in the forums. We need to stop the snide cultural remarks and focus on our hobby. -John