Ping newbee question

I am very new to networking and routers etc so this is a basic question.
Hope I have used the terms and names correctly.

I previously had a home network set up using a phone line Broadband dial up
modem
(not cable) between a desktop and a laptop which were side by side. I had
them connected via an Ethernet cable.

I have just installed a wireless router onto my system. Set up appeared
successful. When I tested this out on an online testing website the report
said a Ping
signal was able to receive a reply from my network. Is this a problem for
me and what do I need to do to
stop this?

TIA

B.W.

Hi
That is actually good a Ping signal is a small Network signal that is send
to test the Connection if the connection is No good the ping would not reach
its destination.
Jack (MVP-Networking).

"B.W." <(E-Mail Removed) (del xxx)> wrote in message
news:eLnjVS$(E-Mail Removed)...
>I am very new to networking and routers etc so this is a basic question.
>Hope I have used the terms and names correctly.
>
> I previously had a home network set up using a phone line Broadband dial
> up modem
> (not cable) between a desktop and a laptop which were side by side. I had
> them connected via an Ethernet cable.
>
> I have just installed a wireless router onto my system. Set up appeared
> successful. When I tested this out on an online testing website the
> report said a Ping
> signal was able to receive a reply from my network. Is this a problem for
> me and what do I need to do to
> stop this?
>
> TIA
>
> B.W.
>
>
>

I am I believe reading this different than Jack is. What I hear you saying
is you went to a web site and the web site could "ping" your network and get
a response form your network. This is different than you being able to ping
a site on the internet, the difference being in who is doing the pinging. I
see this as "bad" in the sense that it allows "bad" people on the internet
to know that 1) you are on the Internet, and 2) that there is a computer at
your IP address that is turn on.

It's kind of like waving a red flag in front of a bull. You are inviting
certain people to attack your computer. If you have good firewalls and know
how to set them up it doesn't matter. If you don't their is a likely hood
that your computer will be attacked by the "bad" people on the internet.

You might want to go to a place like https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
and test your network. What you want IMHO is all green blocks.

David Hettel

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

DISCLAIMER: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no rights



"B.W." <(E-Mail Removed) (del xxx)> wrote in message
news:eLnjVS$(E-Mail Removed)...
>I am very new to networking and routers etc so this is a basic question.
>Hope I have used the terms and names correctly.
>
> I previously had a home network set up using a phone line Broadband dial
> up modem
> (not cable) between a desktop and a laptop which were side by side. I had
> them connected via an Ethernet cable.
>
> I have just installed a wireless router onto my system. Set up appeared
> successful. When I tested this out on an online testing website the
> report said a Ping
> signal was able to receive a reply from my network. Is this a problem for
> me and what do I need to do to
> stop this?
>
> TIA
>
> B.W.
>
>
>

Interesting - both Jack and David are correct (my opinion)- B.W. refers to
"... an online testing website" - regarding the "testing website" - it
would be interesting to see the exact wording in their response.

"B.W." <(E-Mail Removed) (del xxx)> wrote in message
news:eLnjVS$(E-Mail Removed)...
>I am very new to networking and routers etc so this is a basic question.
>Hope I have used the terms and names correctly.
>
> I previously had a home network set up using a phone line Broadband dial
> up modem
> (not cable) between a desktop and a laptop which were side by side. I had
> them connected via an Ethernet cable.
>
> I have just installed a wireless router onto my system. Set up appeared
> successful. When I tested this out on an online testing website the
> report said a Ping
> signal was able to receive a reply from my network. Is this a problem for
> me and what do I need to do to
> stop this?
>
> TIA
>
> B.W.
>
>
>

Please don't quote backwards.
http://ursine.ca/Top_Posting

Jack (MVP-Networking). wrote:

> That is actually good a Ping signal is a small Network signal that is send
> to test the Connection

Not quite. It's an ICMP "Echo Request." All it does is say, "Hey, are you
alive?" As part of a correct TCP/IP implementation, hosts that are working
properly are required to answer with an echo request. Not answering ping
is technically broken behavior per standards.

> if the connection is No good the ping would not
> reach its destination.

Actually, getting an ICMP Destination Unreachable response would mean the
destination is not reachable.

Please don't backwards quote.
http://ursine.ca/Top_Posting

David Hettel wrote:

> I am I believe reading this different than Jack is. What I hear you saying
> is you went to a web site and the web site could "ping" your network and
> get a response form your network. This is different than you being able to
> ping a site on the internet, the difference being in who is doing the
> pinging. I see this as "bad" in the sense that it allows "bad" people on
> the internet to know that 1) you are on the Internet, and 2) that there is
> a computer at your IP address that is turn on.

It doesn't tell someone who is looking for machines to exploit what OS and
version that machine runs or what security patches are installed or what
server software is running. Other probes do that, and there isn't a good
way to defend against those probes without just disconnecting from the
network.

> It's kind of like waving a red flag in front of a bull. You are inviting
> certain people to attack your computer.

You do this by connecting to any hostile (as in, any network you do not have
reasonable control over all vectors of entry, such as the Internet)
network.

> If you have good firewalls and know how to set them up it doesn't matter.
> If you don't their is a likely hood that your computer will be attacked by
> the "bad" people on the internet.

Or just don't run services you don't need on a public network, and don't run
desktops on hostile networks.

> You might want to go to a place like https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2
> and test your network. What you want IMHO is all green blocks.

Gibson doesn't know what he's talking about. He's just trying to pitch
snake oil.

http://www.samspade.org/d/firewalls.html

It says

Solicited TCP Packets: Received (Failed)
As detailed in the port report below, one or more of your system's ports
actively responded to our deliberate attempts to establish a connection. It
is generally possible to increase your system's security by hiding it from
the probes of potentially hostile hackers. Please see the details presented
by the specific port links below as well as the various resources on this
site, and in our extremely helpful and active user community.

Ping Reply:Received (Failed)
Your system replied to our PING (ICMP Echo) requests, making it visible on
the Internet. Most personal firewalls can be configured to block, drop, and
ignore such ping request in order to better hide systems from hackers. this
is highly recommended since "Ping" is among the oldest and most common
methods used to locate systems prior to further exploitation.

Maybe I am reading this incorrectly, it sounded to me as if there was more I
could do to protect myself and so do I need to configure my Firewall
differently? I understood a
Router was the best type of Firewall to have, being hardware rather than
software. Maybe I am showing my ignorance here?

B.W.


"AJR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Interesting - both Jack and David are correct (my opinion)- B.W. refers to
> "... an online testing website" - regarding the "testing website" - it
> would be interesting to see the exact wording in their response.
>
> "B.W." <(E-Mail Removed) (del xxx)> wrote in message
> news:eLnjVS$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>I am very new to networking and routers etc so this is a basic question.
>>Hope I have used the terms and names correctly.
>>
>> I previously had a home network set up using a phone line Broadband dial
>> up modem
>> (not cable) between a desktop and a laptop which were side by side. I
>> had
>> them connected via an Ethernet cable.
>>
>> I have just installed a wireless router onto my system. Set up appeared
>> successful. When I tested this out on an online testing website the
>> report said a Ping
>> signal was able to receive a reply from my network. Is this a problem
>> for me and what do I need to do to
>> stop this?
>>
>> TIA
>>
>> B.W.
>>
>>
>>
>
>

Yes it is as I thought. A remote system tested your computer and something
in your network responded. I would suggest that you look at your router
first, it may have an option to respond to pings that you have enabled. I
would suggest disabling it. If you can't find anything there then look at
your firewall. Normally the default setting is not to permit this response
through the WAN connection.

--
David Hettel

Please post any reply as a follow-up message in the news group
for everyone to see. I'm sorry, but I don't answer questions
addressed directly to me in E-mail or news groups.

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional Program
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

DISCLAIMER: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no rights


"B.W." <(E-Mail Removed) (del xxx)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> It says
>
> Solicited TCP Packets: Received (Failed)
> As detailed in the port report below, one or more of your system's ports
> actively responded to our deliberate attempts to establish a connection.
> It
> is generally possible to increase your system's security by hiding it from
> the probes of potentially hostile hackers. Please see the details
> presented
> by the specific port links below as well as the various resources on this
> site, and in our extremely helpful and active user community.
>
> Ping Reply:Received (Failed)
> Your system replied to our PING (ICMP Echo) requests, making it visible on
> the Internet. Most personal firewalls can be configured to block, drop,
> and
> ignore such ping request in order to better hide systems from hackers.
> this
> is highly recommended since "Ping" is among the oldest and most common
> methods used to locate systems prior to further exploitation.
>
> Maybe I am reading this incorrectly, it sounded to me as if there was more
> I
> could do to protect myself and so do I need to configure my Firewall
> differently? I understood a
> Router was the best type of Firewall to have, being hardware rather than
> software. Maybe I am showing my ignorance here?
>
> B.W.
>
>
> "AJR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Interesting - both Jack and David are correct (my opinion)- B.W. refers
>> to
>> "... an online testing website" - regarding the "testing website" - it
>> would be interesting to see the exact wording in their response.
>>
>> "B.W." <(E-Mail Removed) (del xxx)> wrote in message
>> news:eLnjVS$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>I am very new to networking and routers etc so this is a basic question.
>>>Hope I have used the terms and names correctly.
>>>
>>> I previously had a home network set up using a phone line Broadband dial
>>> up modem
>>> (not cable) between a desktop and a laptop which were side by side. I
>>> had
>>> them connected via an Ethernet cable.
>>>
>>> I have just installed a wireless router onto my system. Set up appeared
>>> successful. When I tested this out on an online testing website the
>>> report said a Ping
>>> signal was able to receive a reply from my network. Is this a problem
>>> for me and what do I need to do to
>>> stop this?
>>>
>>> TIA
>>>
>>> B.W.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
>

Hi
Yap, I missed the point (thanks David).
Most broadband lines are plagued by constant pings (that is the nature of
the beast and nothing can be done about it).
To avoid the annoyance, many Routers have a menu entry that goes by the name
of "Discard WAN Pings" or similar wordings.
Otherwise check the Port opening table and make sure that there is No open
ports (unless there are some that you specifically know that are needed for
your application).
http://www.ezlan.net/routers1.html
Jack (MVP-Networking).


"B.W." <(E-Mail Removed) (del xxx)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> It says
>
> Solicited TCP Packets: Received (Failed)
> As detailed in the port report below, one or more of your system's ports
> actively responded to our deliberate attempts to establish a connection.
> It
> is generally possible to increase your system's security by hiding it from
> the probes of potentially hostile hackers. Please see the details
> presented
> by the specific port links below as well as the various resources on this
> site, and in our extremely helpful and active user community.
>
> Ping Reply:Received (Failed)
> Your system replied to our PING (ICMP Echo) requests, making it visible on
> the Internet. Most personal firewalls can be configured to block, drop,
> and
> ignore such ping request in order to better hide systems from hackers.
> this
> is highly recommended since "Ping" is among the oldest and most common
> methods used to locate systems prior to further exploitation.
>
> Maybe I am reading this incorrectly, it sounded to me as if there was more
> I
> could do to protect myself and so do I need to configure my Firewall
> differently? I understood a
> Router was the best type of Firewall to have, being hardware rather than
> software. Maybe I am showing my ignorance here?
>
> B.W.
>
>
> "AJR" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Interesting - both Jack and David are correct (my opinion)- B.W. refers
>> to
>> "... an online testing website" - regarding the "testing website" - it
>> would be interesting to see the exact wording in their response.
>>
>> "B.W." <(E-Mail Removed) (del xxx)> wrote in message
>> news:eLnjVS$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>I am very new to networking and routers etc so this is a basic question.
>>>Hope I have used the terms and names correctly.
>>>
>>> I previously had a home network set up using a phone line Broadband dial
>>> up modem
>>> (not cable) between a desktop and a laptop which were side by side. I
>>> had
>>> them connected via an Ethernet cable.
>>>
>>> I have just installed a wireless router onto my system. Set up appeared
>>> successful. When I tested this out on an online testing website the
>>> report said a Ping
>>> signal was able to receive a reply from my network. Is this a problem
>>> for me and what do I need to do to
>>> stop this?
>>>
>>> TIA
>>>
>>> B.W.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
>

B.W. - Originally you used cable (not a router) - it may be that you are
utilizing Windows firewall. You can do a quick check by right clicking the
connection (usually designated as "Local connection") - select
Advanced-Select Windows firewall settings - Select ICMP tab - Verify that
"allow incoming echo requests" is unchecked - in fact none of the selections
should be enabled.

"B.W." <(E-Mail Removed) (del xxx)> wrote in message
news:eLnjVS$(E-Mail Removed)...
>I am very new to networking and routers etc so this is a basic question.
>Hope I have used the terms and names correctly.
>
> I previously had a home network set up using a phone line Broadband dial
> up modem
> (not cable) between a desktop and a laptop which were side by side. I had
> them connected via an Ethernet cable.
>
> I have just installed a wireless router onto my system. Set up appeared
> successful. When I tested this out on an online testing website the
> report said a Ping
> signal was able to receive a reply from my network. Is this a problem for
> me and what do I need to do to
> stop this?
>
> TIA
>
> B.W.
>
>
>