blocking ping reply

[Jeff]

I use 3 PCs on a home wireless network protected by Zone Alarm (free
version) set at "high" for Internet Zone and "medium" for Trusted Zone,
plus a router.

I tested my PC security using the GRC tests and passed except for one
that I do not know what to do about:

"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
requests 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."

I am not sure where to correct that ping reply problem. Maybe ping is
needed for my
wireless home network to work.

Appreciate help and advice.

Jeff

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I use 3 PCs on a home wireless network protected by Zone Alarm (free
version) set at "high" for Internet Zone and "medium" for Trusted
Zone, plus a router.

I tested my PC security using the GRC tests and passed except for
one that I do not know what to do about:

"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 requests 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."
I am not sure where to correct that ping reply problem. Maybe ping
is needed for my
wireless home network to work.

Appreciate help and advice.

If an external test showed your system replied to a PING and you have the
setup you have given (with the router providing the access to the external
world) then the configuration of your router is allowing the ping reply. If
you feel the need to change this - check the configuration for said router
in the manual (online - manufacturer's web site - support section) for
whatever router you have and act accordingly.

It has nothing (or little) to do with your internal private network and
should not be required for much of anything to work.

 

[Jeff]

If an external test showed your system replied to a PING and you have
the setup you have given (with the router providing the access to the
external world) then the configuration of your router is allowing the
ping reply. If you feel the need to change this - check the
configuration for said router in the manual (online - manufacturer's
web site - support section) for whatever router you have and act
accordingly.
It has nothing (or little) to do with your internal private network
and should not be required for much of anything to work.

Thank you. I will look at my router's settings. The message from
GRC.com was that the setting was in the firewall. In my case that is
Zone Alarm Free and I did not find where to change that there.

Thanks for the explanation.

Jeff

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I use 3 PCs on a home wireless network protected by Zone Alarm (free
version) set at "high" for Internet Zone and "medium" for Trusted
Zone, plus a router.

I tested my PC security using the GRC tests and passed except for
one that I do not know what to do about:

"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 requests 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."
I am not sure where to correct that ping reply problem. Maybe ping
is needed for my
wireless home network to work.

Appreciate help and advice.

If an external test showed your system replied to a PING and you
have the setup you have given (with the router providing the access
to the external world) then the configuration of your router is
allowing the ping reply. If you feel the need to change this -
check the configuration for said router in the manual (online -
manufacturer's web site - support section) for whatever router you
have and act accordingly.
It has nothing (or little) to do with your internal private network
and should not be required for much of anything to work.

Thank you. I will look at my router's settings. The message from
GRC.com was that the setting was in the firewall. In my case that
is Zone Alarm Free and I did not find where to change that there.

Thanks for the explanation.

Your 'firewall' to the outside world is the router. The firewall on your
computer (zone Alarm in your case) is only preventing access to your
computer once someone is on your internal/private network.

It may be - IMHO - a bit overkill for a regular user to have Zone Alarm on
their computer if they have a NAT router (like you do) and they do not open
up ports on their router to allow traffic through. One of the reasons to
utilize a software firewall (in a case like yours - limited computers on a
network, protection from the outside world via a NAT router device, etc.) is
so that it might notify you if something on your computer is trying to
contact the outside world without your knowledge. If you have no interest
in that and you are not protecting yourself against other sophisticated
users on your internal network - Zone Alarm is not much more use to you than
the built-in "Windows XP SP2 firewall" would be. It *might* give you some
extra protection against someone who finds a way past your wireless router -
but then again - if they found a way around the router - they likely will
find a way around your software firewall too. ;-)

 

[Jeff]

Your 'firewall' to the outside world is the router. The firewall on
your computer (zone Alarm in your case) is only preventing access to
your computer once someone is on your internal/private network.

It may be - IMHO - a bit overkill for a regular user to have Zone
Alarm on their computer if they have a NAT router (like you do) and
they do not open up ports on their router to allow traffic through.
One of the reasons to utilize a software firewall (in a case like
yours - limited computers on a network, protection from the outside
world via a NAT router device, etc.) is so that it might notify you
if something on your computer is trying to contact the outside world
without your knowledge. If you have no interest in that and you are
not protecting yourself against other sophisticated users on your
internal network - Zone Alarm is not much more use to you than the
built-in "Windows XP SP2 firewall" would be. It *might* give you
some extra protection against someone who finds a way past your
wireless router - but then again - if they found a way around the
router - they likely will find a way around your software firewall
too. ;-)

Thank you.

Jeff