by saying "open ports" in a router or PC or other Network System what we mean basical

Thread Starter

lse123

Joined Oct 17, 2006
101
by saying "open ports" in a router or PC or other Network System what we mean basically? what is opposite terminology, "closed ports"?

  1. -used or unused
  2. -sensitive
  3. -vulnerable or non vulnerable to attacks
  4. -exploited easily and when so may attacked and have much bad/serious consequences/results
 

nerdegutta

Joined Dec 15, 2009
2,684
by saying "open ports" in a router or PC or other Network System what we mean basically? what is opposite terminology, "closed ports"?

  1. -used or unused
  2. -sensitive
  3. -vulnerable or non vulnerable to attacks
  4. -exploited easily and when so may attacked and have much bad/serious consequences/results
1. Yes, a port is either used, or unused.
2. What do you mean by sensitive?
3. Yes, kind of. There are ports that are more frequently used to attack/gain access to a computer.
4. With the right tools, all open ports are shown, and by theory, can be used to gain access. Well, perhaps not the common application ports, such as mail ports, and maybe telnet/ssh ports.

If you have an open port that is not in use, I will advice you to close it.
 

nerdegutta

Joined Dec 15, 2009
2,684
If a port is open, it doesn't have to be in use. If a port is closed, it doesn't let any traffic pass.

Think of them as doors. A door can be open, but you don't have walk through it. If a door is closed, you can't go though.
 

BillO

Joined Nov 24, 2008
999
One could say an open port can be 'sensitive', or not secure, if it has a unsecured or weakly protected listener process listening for a connection attempt on that port.

One could also say a port is sensitive if it associated with a well defined use. An example would be port 80, which is the default port of HTML activity. One might probe for a weak listener on port 80, such as a poorly designed web server. Or port 21 for a weakly secured FTP server, ... and so on ...
 

SiO

Joined Sep 12, 2011
22
by saying "open ports" in a router or PC or other Network System what we mean basically? what is opposite terminology, "closed ports"?

  1. -used or unused
  2. -sensitive
  3. -vulnerable or non vulnerable to attacks
  4. -exploited easily and when so may attacked and have much bad/serious consequences/results
Hi.
You could say the opesite of Open would be Closed or Stealth. The main difference between Closed and Stealth is the following:

Closed: When someone tries to establish connection with your closed ports, this means your PC (our router) replied that "this port is closed".

Stealth: In stealth mode, your PC on router never replys (drops) to this device trying to connect.
So with close, even tough your port is not open, a potential attacker at least know you exist, while in stealth mode, your stealth!

Do a quick security scan of your PC here: https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

Do a simple "Common Ports" Scan. The results will speak for themselves.

Enjoy!
 
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