u can refer to this site and enter the port number and see whether it is open or not
http://www.canyouseeme.org
Main Topics
Browse All Topics
Loading Advertisement...
Question
Security for opening outgoing port
I have a security division denying me access to a network because they say that it is a security risk. I dont believe it is. Can anyone tell me if there is a security risk in this scenario?
I have a management server that runs on a public IP address. Agents are installed on the computers being managed that initiate a connection with the management server. So I only need 1 port to be opened to only my 1 public IP address and it only needs to be opened for outgoing traffic not incoming.
However thier security department is telling me that this is a security risk. They are saying that this opens up their network to attacks. They are fully satisfied that our management server is not a risk, but their security guy is saying that somehow this one port opened for outgoing traffic to my one IP address can be exploited. He cited social engineering as a possible way to gain access.
Now I am not a security expert, but I do not see how someone could exploit this. It is secure communication going out under a unique protocol. It is limited to only outgoing out over one port and only to one IP address. I dont think that this security guy knows what he is talking about, he seems to be more of a big picture guy and subs out to more technical people.
Am I wrong in thinking that this does not open any vulnerabilities?
This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.
Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get
Instant Access to this Solution
- Plus...
- 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
- Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
- Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
- Never be left without tech help again
Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.
- "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
- "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
- "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.
See what Experts Exchange can do for you.
Got a question?
We've got the answer.
Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.
Need individual assistance?
Our experts are ready to help.
If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.
Want to learn from the best?
Read articles from industry experts.
Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.
Working on a long term project?
Store your work and research.
Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.
Access the answers to your technology questions today.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?
Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.
Trusted by the world's most respected brands.
Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.
Try it out and discover for yourself.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
Free Tech Articles
-
WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
-
SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
-
Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
-
Create a Win7 Gadget
This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
-
Outlook continually prompting for username and password
There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
-
Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...
Cloud Class Webinars
- Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
- Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
- IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
- Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
- Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
- How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...
Join the Community
Give a Little. Get a Lot.
Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.
Answers
Let me get this straight.
The agents run on machines in their network and initiate connections to your management server.
You want them to allow outbound connections to port 5XXX for those machines.
They don't want to.
Is that right?
Allowing an additional outbound port does not open an avenue for attack from the outside simply because it only allow connections initiated from the inside. What they may be unhappy to do is allow another way for internal machines to contact the outside. They may have their network locked down so that their users can browse the web and not much else (such as denying file-sharing traffic) and they may not want to loosen that arrangement.
They may also be worried about attackers exploiting other vulnerabilities and delivering payloads into their network that can then use port 5XXX to exfiltrate data or connect back to the attackers machine to allow remote control.
If the firewall was set to allow outgoing connections to only port 5XXX or your management IP then all of these considerations are dealt with and I can't really see why else they would object.
Assuming they do allow outbound connections to some port then perhaps you could determine which ports they are (a good bet would be 80 http and 443 https) and configure your agents to connect to one of those and your management server to accept incoming connections to the same.
At the least, I think you need to get something in writing detailing their concerns so that you can properly address those concerns.
They need to take care of an issue on their end. They have a administration network and a production network that are not seperated. They need to configure their firewall to prevent any posibilities of problems in production. I undertand this concern, but at the same time they are preventing me from rolling out patches, doing backups, and other management tasks. The problem is that the person approving this in their security department, is not a very technical person. He is telling me that this would open up social engineering attacks, and has no idea what he is saying. With a unique encrypted protocol running on one IP address and only having outgoing access, I would say that the risk is jsut about as minimal as you can get, short of cutting the WAN cable.
Thanks for the help, just wanted to make sure that I wasn't going crazy.
3 Ways to Join
Business Accounts
- Perfect for organizations
- Multiple users
- Save over 36%
- Create a Business Account
Answer for Membership
- Earn free access
- Showcase your knowledge
- No credit card required
- Sign Up to Answer
Loading Advertisement...
by: pankusareenPosted on 2009-08-27 at 07:05:27ID: 25198296
Yes there are some ports if opened can be exploited like DCOM RPC (port 135) can be exploit . RPC Locator (port 445) can also be exploited.
U just use a good firewall and block that port number that use security division say