XP's firewall IS enabled by default, and by default blocks pretty much all ports from acting as a server.
(And, in any case, it's REAL easy to enable. Go to the 'network connections' interface - which you have to go to in order to add a dialup connection. Right-click on the connection in question, and go to the last tab - select the checkbox for 'I want to protect my computer with a firewall', or something to that effect. All done)
It's actually not a bad firewall, but MS goes and borks it by putting in UPnP as a feature of the OS, which actually broadcasts requests itself for 'devices' on the network to connect to. It's a little more complicated turning this rather giant security flaw off (not if you are familiar with the NT core - it's just a service you have to stop, but it has some implications)
Xander F (Unseen Apostate Directorate of North America - Ohio order)
A fanatic is one who, upon losing sight of his goals, redoubles his efforts. --George Santayana
Thanks for the feedback everyone. As I said to Jerome above, I have no idea why anyone would want to hack me ... but the point is, they DID attempt to hack me ... and the reason that the National Defense Information System took it a level higher in their process, is that the same hacker made 12 attempts on me in just 2 hours yeasterday ... that demonstrates more than a "Random" bounce around.
There are hundreds of thousands of hackers ranging from snot-nosed nerds to seriuous criminals looking for credit card info. I am protected by a good firewall ... and that is how I detect hackers, and trace them back.
This Defense Information thing peeked my curiosity, and so I decided to call about it. The Army's initial answer was similar to what Berean stated above ... then, after they got my information, the links, and routing, etc ... they decided to take it a step further, and sooooo ... I thought you all would find this scenario fun to follow ... something a little different than our usual JW talk.
IMHO The Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll is a very fascinating read and I would highly recommend it to anyone. Cliff is kind of an odd person but also very likeable. For example you could be talking to him about a very deep or technical subject and it would not be unusual for him to whip-out a yo-yo and start doing around-the-world or pull a pet mouse from his pocket and start playing with it. I am intimately familiar with many of the key players and the events Cliff mentions in his book as some of the people and groups Cliff talks about were under a hacker surveillance program I managed for the federal government at the time.
And dungbeetle, if you liked his book perhaps you will also like mine. I’m hoping to put mine out this year; more or less at cost just for the fun of it. It is called “Breaking Into Government Computers, For Fun And Profit”. I had to get some approval from some federal government heavy’s as some of the material is now part of classified reports. Also I had to allow for the passage of time so as not to overly embarrass some people in office at the time. I’m sure that more then a few people will be pissed off when they read it and realize I am talking about them and real events that make some of them look quite foolish, but too-bad. If you want to get more info on what really went on during the KGB hacker/spy incidents and learn more about the inside of these hacker/spy groups, talked about in Cliff’s book, take a look at my book and some of the gaps will be filled in for you.
Which now brings me to my last and most important point. And that is that now is a very bad time to be playing with other people’s computers. Some branches of the federal government are becoming more then just a little interested in protecting what is now considered part of the national infrastructure. My advice, don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time…. Just my ramblings
