Configure router not to respond to PING requests

[Hey Jude]

I've used the ShieldsUP! site in the past and never had any issues; however I just ran it on my wireless laptop and this is the result, "Ping Reply: RECEIVED (FAILED) — Your system REPLIED to our Ping (ICMP Echo) requests, making it visible on the Internet. Most personal firewalls can be configured to block, drop, and ignore such ping requests in order to better hide systems from hackers. This is highly recommended since "Ping" is among the oldest and most common methods used to locate systems prior to further exploitation.

How do you configure Win 7 firewall to ignore such ping requests and/or should I be concerned?

However, I did pass on these;

"Solicited TCP Packets: PASSED — No TCP packets were received from your system as a direct result of our attempts to elicit some response from any of the ports listed below — they are all either fully stealthed or blocked by your ISP. However . . .

Unsolicited Packets: PASSED — No Internet packets of any sort were received from your system as a side-effect of our attempts to elicit some response from any of the ports listed above. Some questionable personal security systems expose their users by attempting to "counter-probe the prober", thus revealing themselves. But your system remained wisely silent. (Except for the fact that not all of its ports are completely stealthed as shown below.)

[Argus]

I've used the ShieldsUP! site in the past and never had any issues; however I just ran it on my wireless laptop and this is the result, "Ping Reply: RECEIVED (FAILED) — Your system REPLIED to our Ping (ICMP Echo) requests, making it visible on the Internet. Most personal firewalls can be configured to block, drop, and ignore such ping requests in order to better hide systems from hackers. This is highly recommended since "Ping" is among the oldest and most common methods used to locate systems prior to further exploitation.

How do you configure Win 7 firewall to ignore such ping requests and/or should I be concerned?

If you have a wireless laptop, I don't think you have to look at the Windows 7 firewall, since the ShieldsUP! test is communicating with the router that makes your laptop wireless. That is, it is possible that you can set the router to not respond to Ping requests.

[HansV]

In addition to Argus's reply, the fact that your router replies to PING requests only means that other systems can "see" that there is a computer at your IP address. But that's it - they still can't get in. And unless your last name is Assange, it's unlikely that someone will perform a denial of service attack on your IP address...

[Hey Jude]

Thanks to both of you :-) I don't know how to set the router to not reply to ping requests, so I shall leave it as it is unless otherwise instructed :-)

Edited to add: I did read further and wonder if configuring the Client for Microsoft Networks is important

"The best FREE thing you can do for your
Internet security is to cut yourself loose
from the Client for Microsoft Networks!"

[Argus]

It would help if we knew what kind of router it is. But as Hans said; it's not a major threat, but it's nice to be "stealthy" when possible.

[StuartR]

...Edited to add: I did read further and wonder if configuring the Client for Microsoft Networks is important...[/color]

Do you have any data that is shared between computers on your home or office network? If so then you need this client, otherwise you can almost certainly disable it.

[Hey Jude]

It would help if we knew what kind of router it is. But as Hans said; it's not a major threat, but it's nice to be "stealthy" when possible.

Linksys 2.4 GHz wireless broadband router that has 4 computers which use it but no file sharing or networking has been set up. I like being "stealthy" lol

[Hey Jude]

...Edited to add: I did read further and wonder if configuring the Client for Microsoft Networks is important...[/color]

Do you have any data that is shared between computers on your home or office network? If so then you need this client, otherwise you can almost certainly disable it.

Nothing is shared between any home computers so I will definitely disable this. Thanks for the feedback :-)

[Argus]

It would help if we knew what kind of router it is. But as Hans said; it's not a major threat, but it's nice to be "stealthy" when possible.

Linksys 2.4 GHz wireless broadband router that has 4 computers which use it but no file sharing or networking has been set up. I like being "stealthy" lol

I asked because the setting is called slightly different things on different routers, I think.

On the Linksys it is called Block Anonymous Internet Requests; i.e. on the WAN side of the router. It's usually found under the advanced settings (Advanced Network) or similar; on the Linksys I think it's found on the Security tab, Firewall screen (in the “web-based utility” that you access by logging in to the router with a browser).

After the general, enable/disable firewall setting, there are some other settings, among them the "Block Anonymous Internet Requests" setting; it is selected (enabled) by default. As I understand it, this will block all ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) traffic. It could be that on your router this is disabled. If you don’t have one, you can probably download a manual from the Linksys site, and read about the web-based utility you use to configure router settings.

ICMP traffic isn't only about ping (the command/utility to send an ICMP echo request); in fact it's used for error and control messages etc. and is part of the whole IP package (Internet Protocol suite/layers) that we use to communicate across networks; but apart from ping and traceroute it’s not directly used by software on the network.

Now, whether this is a good thing to do, blocking ICMP, or not, can be discussed; and sometimes, since the situation can be quite different between different setups, some use cable modems, ADSL etc. and how/if their ISP use this feature, blocking it might generate problems with the Internet connection, such as, perhaps, trouble staying connected. The only way to know is to do a test with it enabled.

Nowadays everything is expected to be protected and stealthy, not seen; and the test mentioned above is part of that. On the other hand, it’s so common to not respond (to an echo request) that I guess that one can be pretty sure that there is something there (not responding…). What I meant with my earlier comment was that if something works even if I disable it (or enable a block), then I probably don’t need it, to put it simple. That doesn’t mean I change a lot, in my case this setting was the default and it works.

It might be that you need it somehow for your Internet connection to work properly, which is not something I can tell from here. As Hans said it only means that computers/people on the Internet can see that there is something (a router, computer) at your IP address and perhaps some more.

I guess the setting, to be able to block such Internet requests, became the default choice for the routers after we had seen different denial of service attacks, such as the Smurf IP Denial-of-Service Attacks.
http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1998-01.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smurf_attack" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Anyhow, if you want, you can take a look at the router setting, and see if it makes a difference. I assume that you know how to use the browser utility, even it it’s possible to create a secure network with some setup CD one usually want to change some other things in the router, such as the router admin password etc.

[Hey Jude]

I will read and digest all that you wrote and I thank you. I will investigate and see what I can come up with. THANKS!!!!!

Edited: WOW! For starters I started with Windows Firewall and started checking Inbound connection settings and I must confess I never even realized any of that was there. Initially on setting the router up, I have gone to the browser and accessed Linksys settings, but it's been quite awhile so this will take some time obviously. Before I change anything I want to get a "feel" for what it all means. I don't have a manual for the Linksys (not aware of one anyways). When I opened Advanced Settings in the Windows Firewall and checked Inbound there is a host of things "enabled" and others which say "No" so I will have to take time to check it all out.

[Argus]

When I opened Advanced Settings in the Windows Firewall and checked Inbound there is a host of things "enabled" and others which say "No" so I will have to take time to check it all out.

I'm sure there are; but when I briefly mentioned the firewall, I meant the one in the router.

I don't know which model, perhaps the WRT54GL; you can download a user guide at their support page, if you can't find one on a CD.

And if not the WRT54GL; I guess you'll have to search for the model.

You are using Windows 7, right? It has changed a bit; one can now also access the router setup using the Windows Control Panel, quite slick, but in the end it's same user interface. See this page:
http://www6.nohold.net/Cisco2/ukp.aspx? ... 3&donelr=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Usually one type the address directly in the browser, such as this:
http://www6.nohold.net/Cisco2/ukp.aspx? ... 6&donelr=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Hey Jude]

that is the router :-) yes Win 7. Now I remember tying the IP address into the browser, but as I edited above, it's been quite a long while since the initial set-up and I never thot anything more about it. Thank you again and I shall continue investigating. My default isn't the typical 192.168.1.1 but 192.168.5.1 works on our Verizon. I need to find the set-up page I printed out when we set it up. I had no clue about routers then so had lots of help

[Hey Jude]

oops it is WRT54GV-01 is what the page I printed out says, but on the search page that model is not found hmmmm when I look further down it says this

Model: WRT54GV5/6

[Hey Jude]

So I typed the IP addy into the browser and nothing comes up. SO now what?

I am following the Control Panel directions so will report back after awhile :-)

[Argus]

oops it is WRT54GV-01 is what the page I printed out says, but on the search page that model is not found hmmmm

A lot of editing here...
WRT54GV-01 could be their first model, WRT54G version 01.

Anyhow, with my comment about the test page, "reverse DNS" and safe surfing I think one branch of the comments has gone a off topic. What do the admins think; it's related to Internet security, but not on the topic started by the OP?

[HansV]

Anyhow, with my comment about the test page, "reverse DNS" and safe surfing I think one branch of the comments has gone a off topic. What do the admins think; it's related to Internet security, but not on the topic started by the OP?

Agreed, I have moved this branch to a separate topic.

[Hey Jude]

Ok. I used 192.168.1.1 and got an authentication required. It asks for a username and password so is this what I printed out when I got the wireless security key? I've tried it several ways, and so far no luck.

[Argus]

It asks for a username and password so is this what I printed out when I got the wireless security key?

I don't know what information you have there, but if are you talking about the key for wireless security, no. That is the one you enter into the different devices, computers that are going use the encrypted wireless network.

This is the password for the router setup. The default user name & password are different between brands, but it should be the same on all Linksys routers, I think. I read somewhere that it is admin & admin; on the other hand, on the pages I mentioned earlier the say: leave the user name field blank and enter "admin" as password.

Then it's possible that you changed the password when you configured the router.

Please do note that it's not that important to change the "Block anonymous internet request", it doesn't increase the security; but it's always good to know some of the basic settings in the router.
See fore example this at the Linksys forum.

[StuartR]

The default username and password for the WRT54G is

Username: <leave this blank>
Password: admin

In other words do not enter a username, and enter a password of "admin" (without the quote marks)

[Hey Jude]

Yes it was changed and I found the correct info so am checking it out now. I also read on one of the sites posted that if you press the reset button on the back of the router, you can reset it to default factory settings but it would also lose any saved changes. Had I NOT been able to access it with either admin admin or my information, what settings would be changed in the router? Just curious. I just wanted to be able to find where it gave me the option to block anonymous internet requests because I hadn't wondered about it until I got the results from ShieldsUP!