Firewall Pings ??

Hi marck,

Such tests are designed to detect every possible flaw, new or old. Answering a ping used to be a security risk in the past because of security flaws in the TCP/IP layer of network communications (the layer that most home users use). The concept was developed that if the ping goes unanswered, then the hacker can't find the network to hack. This not answering a ping is still the "safest", but not answering pings leads to other problems with functioning of the network. The security flaws in the TCP/IP layer have been fixed long ago, so this stealth mode of protection for a home user is unnecessary. That being said, other network layers such as ICMP that are used by web servers can be compromised by malware. In these situation the response to a ping request is based upon a white/black list. It is a mixed bag out there when it comes to this topic with each company making its own decision - Google will answer pings and Microsoft will not. It is often thought that hackers find the network by pinging and then start the hack. Truth is most hackers of home systems get into systems via Trojans and don't target a specific network. In other words, they don't use pinging to find a network to hack, but rely on delivery of a back door Trojan which contacts the hacker when it has set itself up in a new system.