Test Driving Your New Protection

After your new firewall protection is up and running (on both your router and your computers), and when you are comfortable that your programs are still working, it is worth a couple minutes to perform a quick test using an online tool to determine whether the firewalls are doing their job.

You can run a quick test using the port-scanning utility provided by a collection of broadband providers. You can access this here:

http://www.dslreports.com/scan

Click Probe, and when it finishes click Results. This utility attempts to get responses from your home network, which your SPI firewall should now block. Figure 1-14 shows a sample scan.

Figure 1-14. Testing Security with a Port Scan

You should see all green indicators (not red or yellow), which means that your network is protected. Suggestions are offered if weaknesses in the network security are identified.

Another similar test is provided online by a group opposed to hacking, called Hacker Watch. You can find their test here:

http://www.hackerwatch.org/probe/

Click Port Scan to start the test. This utility attempts to get responses from your home network, which your SPI firewall should now block. Figure 1-15 shows a sample result from this test.

Figure 1-15. Another Test for Evaluating Security

When the test completes, you should again see green indicators, telling you the attempts to send messages into your home network from the Internet were appropriately blocked by your SPI firewall. If security weaknesses exist, some suggestions are made as to how to solve them.

Several other similar security scans are available online, such as the following:

http://www.pcflank.com/test.htm

http://scan.sygate.com

Both of these programs (and several others) all work great. There is really no need to try them all out (but there's nothing wrong with doing that). Just pick one that appeals to you and go with it.