msdz

I have to run in DMZ in order to use my internet phone service. I do not see nothing wrong with that. More less running in DMZ opens all accessable ports so you can download or upload on any of them. If you do not have anything of importance on your computer then running in DMZ is nothing to really fear, if someone does get control then just shutdown and reconfigure, maybe set to a different static IP or just disable the DMZ. Nothing really major about doing that. Here is a site that you can read through and will generally help you if you take your time and follow their instructions CAREFULLY. This is the home page but you might do better clicking on Port Forwarding an then selecting you modem/router and going from there.
http://www.portforward.com/default.htm

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Magnum50

thx, will try that tomorrow...at work now.

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Magnum
www.gettacticaldammit.com

icky

NO!

It's a bit hard to help through forum posts. If you put that .173 address in for the DMZ and it doesn't work, then maybe you have Windows firewall turned on. Either that, or the .173 address is wrong.

Update your Windows while you are thinking about it.

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Peace through fear... since 1947!

Apophis

Bingo! The last SANS study had some very large percentage of end-user machines participating in various botnets due to lax security. It was apparent that most of the people didn't even know they had been compromised nor did they think they ever would be compromised because of the "no one would want to hack me" myth.

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Diplomacy is the art of saying "good doggie" while looking for a bigger stick.

Rincewind

are there any tools (besides the everyday mal-ware / virus scanner) that you can use to see if you're unknowingly a zombie?

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Required Reading for all TG sandboxers

ednos

Use Zone Alarm; it tells you any time any program is trying to make an outgoing connection. As long as you're somewhat familiar with the way computers work, this tool is invaluable.

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The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. ~ Bertrand Russell
I have a tendency to key out three or four things and then let them battle for supremacy while I key, so there's a lot of backspacing as potential statements are slaughtered and eaten by the victors. ~ Magna Centipede

Apophis

Microsoft Defender, a good malware/adware tool such as Ad-Aware and some manual netstat reviews to see if you have any open ports and/or established connections that you really shouldn't have.

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Diplomacy is the art of saying "good doggie" while looking for a bigger stick.

icky

I personally rely on my sharp eye for unusual activity and an occasional run of netstat, hijackthis and spybot s&d. I don't run a virus scanner, but I put AVG on other people's systems all the time. I don't think I've ever found anything nasty on my own system, so all of my experience comes from the systems of relatives and friends.

Technically speaking, it is possible for the nasty code to make itself 99% undetectable on a running system.

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Peace through fear... since 1947!

Acreo Aeneas

Well back on subject at hand...please...

Magnum, which game(s) are you trying to host a server with? Or want to play online that gives you trouble?

Have you tried looking up the required TCP/UDP ports that the above games required? And have you tried to set up a manual port forwarding (incoming and outgoing) for those ports (w/ software firewall disabled, but with hardware firewall enabled)?

Lastly, are you sure that your software firewall is set up correctly to allow access for your games for incoming and outgoing connections to your network and internet connection?

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Acreo_Aeneas
Former 9th MID Member

Twisted_Firestarter

Although I understand that security by obscurity is not security--as all the DRM companies of the world have learned--it is in fact a benefit. If you are 1 out of 1,000,000 computers who has unpatched vulnerabilities in their machine you are much less likely to get hacked than if you are 1 of 100 such computers.

In any case, all of this is only a real issue if your computer isn't updated with the latest security patches and you don't have windows firewall (or some other software related firewall) on. There is always a chance that a fresh venerability will come out and your computer will be hacked before the patch comes up, but it isn't very likely for a computer that isn't on 24/7.

Yes, you are obviously more safe leaving your DMZ turned off, but it's the difference between being 99.9999% save and 99.9% safe.

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Twisted Firestarter
a.k.a |TG| Harkonian

ScratchMonkey

Defense in depth: Create multiple layers that the attacker must get through to damage you or others. A firewall is one layer. Shutting down non-essential services is another. Running services as a mortal, not as administrator is another.

When hosting a game server, run it as a mortal and don't allow that mortal to write to OS directories (for Windows, \Windows and \Program Files, and any profile except that user). Only open the ports needed for that server. If running behind NAT, port-forward only the ports you need for the server. And block outbound connections from that machine to any other machine except the master server. (If you block nothing else, block IRC.)

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ednos

You're perfectly safe against the individual hacker, yes. Unfortunately, as Apophis and many other qualified people in this thread have stated, you're still increasing your risk of being compromised significantly. It's not the individual picking random numbers that you should be afraid of; it's the scripts that cycle through lists that don't discriminate and don't have a short attention span. Hacking doesn't work like Transformers and The Italian Job and Hackers and Swordfish. Hacking is a hell of a lot different from the public image.

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The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. ~ Bertrand Russell
I have a tendency to key out three or four things and then let them battle for supremacy while I key, so there's a lot of backspacing as potential statements are slaughtered and eaten by the victors. ~ Magna Centipede

CingularDuality

Perhaps you're right, but those numbers are nothing compared to the numbers of computers being scanned every day by hackers and their scripts.

This is wrong and illogical.

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ednos

Can't argue with that.

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The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. ~ Bertrand Russell
I have a tendency to key out three or four things and then let them battle for supremacy while I key, so there's a lot of backspacing as potential statements are slaughtered and eaten by the victors. ~ Magna Centipede