Hack yo’self
SCAN YOUR OWN SYSTEMS FOR THE KINDS OF VULNERABILITIES THAT HACKERS WOULD EXPLOIT.
WHAT HACKERS WILL OFTEN DO IS RUN A PORT SCAN ON YOUR SYSTEM. IT’S AN AUTOMATED SCRIPT THAT CHECKS A WHOLE HOST OF PORTS TO SEE IF YOU HAVE ANY SERVICES RUNNING.
ONE OF THE best ways to protect the devices in your home is to run the same kind of vulnerability scans on them that hackers will. This month, we’ll look at a few ways you can scan your devices to see if anything is vulnerable to remote hackers.
PORT SCANNING YOUR PC
One of the most common ways that hackers can find a way into your PC is by running a port scan.
The term ‘port’ in this context refers to an internet (TCP/IP or UDP) port. When an application on your PC or device sends data over the internet it attaches a certain port number to the traffic, which tells the receiving device what kind of traffic it is and which application it’s associated with. For example, HTTP (web) traffic is usually sent on port 80, so when your computer receives the data on port 80, it knows that data belongs to the web browser and sends the data on to the right app.
Normally, your firewall will block all incoming ports. No traffic can come to your PC unless you ‘dialled out’ — ie, initiated the connection from your PC. A web server, for example, cannot send data to your PC unless you request it by opening a connection. Think of it like making a phone call — you can dial out but nobody can dial in. That is, unless your own PC is running a service. Services are apps that allow other people to connect to your PC. For example, if you’re running a web server yourself, or you’re running a windows file server. Then that app might talk to your firewall and tell it to leave a port ‘open’ so that other devices can talk your PC. The firewall will actually let traffic on this port through.
Now, these open ports can potentially make you vulnerable. If you’re running a Windows File Share on an open port, for example, then anybody from outside your network might be able to access it. You’d better hope that your passwords are good.
So we come to the port scan. What hackers will often do is run a port scan on your system. It’s an automated script that checks a whole host of ports to see if you have any services running. If you do, then they can try to break into that particular service.
To prevent this, you can port scan your own system to see what the hackers would see if they scanned you. Experienced security professionals would use an app like Nmap ( nmap.org), a command line tool for running a security scan.
For beginners, however, we actually recommend Shields Up! From Gibson Research ( www.grc.com), a site that has been around forever but still does the job. It’s a web-based port scanner, and all you need to do is visit the site and click on the ‘All Service Ports’ scan button.
What will happen next is that Shields Up! will run a remote scan of your network, trying out the first 1,056 ports. Ideally, it will report green (which means the port is stealthed/closed) for all scanned.
If any port is not green, then you might have a problem. If it’s blue, then the port isn’t open and you’re not in danger, but your firewall isn’t doing its job properly. A good firewall should be a black hole, preventing all outgoing communications — but a blue port means that your computer has actually responded to the scan.
Red means that there’s a port open and a service running. You’re potentially vulnerable. In order to see what application it is, click on the red square and Shields Up! will tell you what service normally runs on that port. You should then do your best to shut that service down (you may have to Google how to do that).
USING BITDEFENDER HOME SCANNER
There’s a variety of home scanners on the market, and frankly, they don’t hold a candle to professional tools like Metasploit ( www.metasploit.com), Wireshark ( www. wireshark.org), Nipper ( www.titania.co.uk) and Nexpose ( www.rapid7.com). However, those tools are extremely complicated and are not easy for non-technical folks to grasp.
If you want something simple to give you a broad overview of your home network; however, we recommend Bitdefender Home Scanner. It’s a free, consumer-friendly tool that will give you an overview of vulnerabilities on your home network. It will run a port scan on all your internal devices, and will even check ‘smart’ devices like routers, networked TVs, IP cameras, media players and other devices for vulnerabilities. It will check for default passwords as well as common vulnerabilities.
You can get the app from Download and install it. You’ll need to create a Bitdefender account to run it, and you’ll need to run it while connected to your home network. Then just follow these steps: You’ll first be asked if this is your home network. Assuming the network connection is the one you use to connect to your home network, click Yes. The scan will run. It will first identify all the devices on your home network, then it will scan them. This might take a while, depending on how many devices you have. For each device you’ll get a report — either ‘No risk found’ or ‘Potentially at risk’. Click on the device to see the details. For devices with ‘Potentially at risk’, there will be a summary page detailing the potential risks.
Now comes the hard part: remediation. If a device is listed as at risk, then it’s a good idea to investigate what you can do about it.
One of the most common problems is that you haven’t changed the default password on the device, or that you haven’t given it a password at all. So the first thing you should do is go to the device in question and change the password (and make sure it has a password). The second thing you should do is check if there’s a firmware or other update for the device. Make sure that the software it’s running is up to date.
After you’ve done those things, come back to Bitdefender Home Scanner and scan the device again. Is it still potentially at risk? If so, then it’s time to do some Googling or contacting the manufacturer. Try to find how others have shut down the vulnerabilities, and see how much damage can really be done via the vulnerability. Making sure that every device in your house is safe is the only way to be sure that your network is hacker-proof.