so i upgraded to panther and was playing with the network utility port scan function. i noticed that my computer has several ports open, including ipp and netinfo-local. i'm not running the built in firewall but i have one built into my router. in any event, i'm wondering if these are security "threats". i know that "any" open port can be viewed as a threat, but with all that MS virus/worm junk it has my attention. comments, concerns?
bobw
The Late: SuperMacMod
Even using the built-in firewall (10.2) I've got open ports when I scan 127.0.0.1, and they're nothing to worry about. Mostly they're web interfaces for configuring things like CUPS. The firewall specifically allows loopback traffic, but would block it from outside. If you've got a hardware firewall or router you shouldn't need to worry.
Zammy-Sam
Desertchild
well, you didn't scan the wan ip. Basically you don't need to protect your lan machine from other lan machines. Or at least, this is less important. But the ip you get from your provider should be scanned and show as less opened ports as possible. And this is your router firewall which closes those ports.
donkey: i get the same open ports (plus one i've opened myself). and yes, 127.0.0.1 differs from my LAN IP's open ports.
i don't know why netinfo has to be open by default... anyone? the WAN/Router is not the issue here, we're talking about whether or not Panther has open ports that should not be open by default.
i don't know why netinfo has to be open by default... anyone? the WAN/Router is not the issue here, we're talking about whether or not Panther has open ports that should not be open by default.
NetInfo is probably only accessable from the same computer, like the CUPS admin port.
If you have another machine, port scan the IP from there and see if it shows as many ports open.
If you have another machine, port scan the IP from there and see if it shows as many ports open.