Firewall and visibility on the Internet

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Firewall and visibility on the Internet

My Firewall on Snow Leopard 10.6.7 is set to:

Block all incoming connections except for those required... As well, I have selected Stealth mode.

However, when I go to SheildsUp at grc.com which previously passed my Mac Pro as completely invisible, it now warns me:

Ping Reply: RECEIVED (FAILED) — Your system REPLIED to our Ping (ICMP Echo) requests, making it visible on the Internet. Most personal firewalls can be configured to block, drop, and ignore such ping requests in order to better hide systems from hackers. This is highly recommended since "Ping" is among the oldest and most common methods used to locate systems prior to further exploitation.

Is there really something wrong? If so, how do I fix it?

Regards,

Peter/

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on May 18, 2011 6:38 PM

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Answer 1

peterpozzie Author

Level 1

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May 18, 2011 6:44 PM in response to peterpozzie

Sorry everyone. This was my first posting and it was only after clicking the button that I saw the "More Like This" feed on the right side. Here I found the answer. I wonder why I could not locate Firewall in a search I did before beginning this topic.

Regards,

Peter.

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Answer 2

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

May 18, 2011 7:13 PM in response to peterpozzie

So, Peter --

If the posts on the right side change when someone comes here to read your post, could you share the answer you found?

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Answer 3

peterpozzie Author

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May 19, 2011 4:15 AM in response to TildeBee

Hi, Bee. The answer I found in a posting by Tesserax:

Sorry, but like MAC Spoofing, there is also no option to block the ICMP IP protocol. This would typically require creating a firewall filter and the AirPort Utility does not provide for any filter-type editing.

So it looks as if my Airport Extreme is being pinged without endangering the Mac itself.

Regards,

Peter.

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Answer 4

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

May 19, 2011 5:52 AM in response to peterpozzie

Note that there's really no real need for the firewall. If you have a wireless router, that essentially acts as a hardware firewall... no uninvited connections can come through that to your computer, since your computer is not addressable on the internet as a whole. If you have a laptop and you take it to an open wireless network somewhere, with a lot of strangers on the same network, then you still don't really need a firewall. Just keep everything turned off in System Preferences -> Sharing. (And if you turn these things on, they "poke a hole" in the firewall anyway.)

If you were going to have your machine on the internet 24-7 with a static IP address reachable from the internet, then a firewall would be a good idea.

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Answer 5

peterpozzie Author

Level 1

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May 19, 2011 6:09 PM in response to thomas_r.

Thanks, Thomas, for this information. I had forgotten about the wireless side of things as only our daughter uses her laptop via wireless. Oh, of course, the iPhones also use it. Our Macs are connected via Ethernet. Must explore wireless more thoroughly.

Thanks again.

Peter.

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Answer 6

thomas_r.

Level 7

31,989 points

May 19, 2011 6:37 PM in response to peterpozzie

Even if you're connected by ethernet, you're still probably going through a router of some kind - maybe the same wireless router. You can't connect multiple wired devices to a typical broadband modem without some kind of router. The same rules apply as they would to the wireless router.

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Answer 7

KJK555

Level 4

2,900 points

May 20, 2011 12:23 AM in response to peterpozzie

Airport extreme base No Stealth??:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=315076

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