Security of data and computers always remain on the topmost priority of the businesses. Due to the advent of modern and evolved threats, sometimes the tools which should be protecting become the cause of damage. Here are we to burst some of the bubbles/ myths related to online scan ports.
What is an online port scan?
This technique is employed to discover open ports on the internet-facing systems. These can easily be exploited to gather your precious data and can be misused.
Why do I need an online port scan?
Many businesses think about why there is a need for an online port scan. Ports need to be properly configured; otherwise, poorly configured ports are responsible for data leaks and compromises. Millions of poorly configured ports are discovered daily which are exploited by the hackers for compromise.
My firewall will protect my data, then why online scan ports?
Port scan online will help to identify the changes enacted by the firewall, without board approval. According to a survey of pioneer cybersecurity companies, even though businesses are protected by a firewall, 80% of the firewalls provide unauthorized access to “anyone “to your precious and confidential data. Even the safety systems that are employed to protect the organizations have open-ended vulnerabilities.
Why would I become a target?
No one’s a target, but they eventually become victims of these threats. According to a survey, above 80% of the attacks were never target-based, but proved very harmful. Many of the victims/ businesses were destroyed completely and on a random basis. The majority of these attacks were based upon misconfigured ports, rather than Trojans, worms, etc.
If our organization is not connected to the internet, why would we need port scans?
Even if your business is not connected to the internet, chances are that you may be harmed through a corporate network, HMI, SCADA, or even a Wi-Fi interface. The most popular example of this is the North American Electrical Reliability Council which got exploited badly just due to its corporate network. Several tools such as SCADA, PLC’s which nobody gives heed to, get infected and are used for weapons for exploitation.
If the internet is harmful, why use online port scans?
If you run the port scan on your local machine, you will only be able to get an insight into the internal view of the systems. To get the external view, a port scan online becomes an effective and efficient tool. An online inspection will trace the same path, a hacker would traverse, preparing your systems and checking their security.
Most Common TCP Ports that can be exploited include FTP, SMTP, HTTP, SMB, HTTPS, FTP, etc. These immensely popular ports are widely used by hackers to attack. Hence a comprehensive scan over hundreds of these ports needs to be executed so that systems can be protected from attacks. These scans need to performed periodically, not once to ensure better security against threats.
The influence of firewalls and additional security may provide you with an entirely different set of results which may seem better enough to you, but are just a bubble. Hence it is wise to consult a prominent organization in cybersecurity that has a ready to use, highly efficient port scanner, which can scan both TCP and UDP ports. Their reports should also be comprehensible to you to make your team learn, and share with your partners, management or other useful resources.
Conclusion:
Testing for these ports/ network ports is vital as they are employed to connect the machine to the internet. Scripts, malware, Trojans harness these misconfigured ports to access the services you render, vital data of yours. Even if the ports aren’t misconfigured, open ports scripts/ responses can be utilized to get unauthorized access to your machine. Hence it is very crucial to port scan online from prominent organizations in the industry like TheWebOrion.
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