A reader asks: The other day, I received a port scan attack notice from my personal firewall. How do I prevent them from coming in at all? Any advice would be very helpful. Thank you!
This is a very good question! I’m sure many of you out there have received a warning like that from your firewall software at one time or another. Those warnings usually say that someone is attempting an attack on your computer. It will then give you the IP address of the attacker and also what kind of an attack it is.
Believe it or not, that is a good thing! Think of it this way: if you didn’t have your firewall software, you wouldn’t even know the attack was happening. Someone could be attacking your system and you would get no warning at all. Your computer would just eventually crash, due to the overwhelming data coming into your system. But, because of the firewall software, the attack was detected and blocked before any damage was done. That is the main reason why you should have a firewall on your computer.
Now, I’m sure some of you are thinking, “How do I stop these attacks from getting to my computer?” That’s another great question! Unfortunately, there’s really no way to stop the attacks from coming in. Usually, the attacks are completely random and they simply target your IP address.
On the other hand, there is a way to stop most of them from doing any harm. That can be done by putting up an additional line of defense between your connection and your computer. That wall is called a router. If you install a router on your connection, the router will be attacked instead of your computer. The router will then simply reject the attack and it will never get into your system.
So, the next time your firewall software warns you of an attack, you can breathe a sigh of relief, because you are protected. Doesn’t that feel good? Until next time, stay safe out there, my friends!
~ Gary