I am getting messages on my SSC Firewall that my computer is blocking an attempt to be accessed?

Question

It lists various numbers and the port number that is attempting to be accessed. How can I stop this happening. I have AOL security, McAfe firewall. Am I at risk? Thankyou for any help.

Answer 1

There are many people (hackers/scrip kiddies) who run programs that scan the Internet for open vulnerabilities that they can exploit in order to execute commands on your machines. Also there are worms that do the same thing. What your seeing is your firewall blocking these attempts to check to see if an Internet port is open on your computer.

What this does for you is protect you from these hack attempts, even if you are vulnerable due to lack of Windows updates. So be happy that you are seeing things get blocked, otherwise people would actually be connecting to your computer and possibly causing mischief.

I went into much more detail on how firewalls work if you are interested here:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=67495&view=findpost&p=369272

Also we have a firewall tutorial here:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial60.html

Answer 2

Your firewall may be stopping something that is suppose to be getting into your computer.. such as an ,ISP,Yahoo messenger, or some other necessary program. So when it happens again see what it is.. if you need it to enter your computer then you need to create an exception in your firewall to allow it.. Go to Windows firewall and choose the exception tab and add it..
PS.... You should only be using one Firewall... And most antiviruses have Firewalls too.
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Answer 3

I would think that if your firewall is blocking the attempts - then it's working.

Answer 4

All that means is that your firewall is doing its job. You are not at risk.