Open Port Scan

Open Port Vulnerabilities:

Open ports are referred to as the channel through which every communication takes places over the internet. Internet-connected services like web browsers or file transfer services (FTP) uses a particular port which is open for any information to be reachable to the user. Generally, IP addresses contain two types of ports i.e. TCP and UDP that are configured to accept packets.

Difficulty arises when the legitimate internet connected services are tampered using malicious softwares or code vulnerabilities like malware, virus etc. To gain access to sensitive data, cyber attackers general use these services in conjunction with open ports and hampers the privacy of any user data.

To stay secure from such cyber-criminal practices, the best practice followed is to close unused ports that are not connected with any known legitimate service.

What can you do about them?

To stay secure and ensure no sensitive data is tampered with by any cyber attacker, system administrators generally scan and close the unused open ports that might be exchanging information on the connected servers.

To close any open port, correct knowledge and skill is required to extract information on which ports are used by the services running on a particular network. For example, Port 80 is considered to be the port for web traffic (HTTP) which is well known. Some others are reserved by specific service providers.

Administrator conducts scan to identify the ports which are required to remain open and the ports that might be exposing any specific system to cyber attacks that could lead to leakage of sensitive information.

Ideally, if say one port is open and the second is not connected or associated with any known legitimate service on the given network then it is recommended to be closed on an immediate basis.

How can we help?

BrandSek assists the clients by identifying the harmful open ports on a daily basis. It is imperative to identify any exposed unused open port as they are an easy target and can prove to be attractive for cyber attackers who can disrupt any organisation’s networks and leak sensitive information. Thereby, BrandSek helps in keeping such cyber attackers at bay!