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Quick Question on Port Forwarding

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  • Port Forwarding
  • Internet Security
  • Video Games
Last response: in Networking
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September 18, 2014 3:24:57 PM

I work from home, but I also play video games and I want to play Terraria with a friend. In order to do so, I must forward my port. My question is, will port forwarding compromise my internet security in anyway? If so, please explain exactly how or lead me to a place that will tell me so. This is important so that I do not compromise things at work.

P.S. In case, it matters, I will not be playing games on the same computer that I use for work, but they are on the same network and connected to the same modem.

Thanks for all your help folks,

Obsidiangel1982

More about : quick question port forwarding

September 18, 2014 3:51:18 PM

Forward the ports, in effect you could say you are compromising your security but TBH it's nothing to really worry about.
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September 18, 2014 3:56:21 PM

udg said:
Forward the ports, in effect you could say you are compromising your security but TBH it's nothing to really worry about.


But HOW will I be compromising my security. Like I said, I wouldn't want to just go ahead and do this and it compromise my job. Security is necessary for some aspects and I can't just do something if it's going to negatively affect what I do for a living. I'd rather not play the game if it's going to do all that.
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September 18, 2014 3:58:19 PM

obsidiangel1982 said:
I work from home, but I also play video games and I want to play Terraria with a friend. In order to do so, I must forward my port. My question is, will port forwarding compromise my internet security in anyway? If so, please explain exactly how or lead me to a place that will tell me so. This is important so that I do not compromise things at work.

P.S. In case, it matters, I will not be playing games on the same computer that I use for work, but they are on the same network and connected to the same modem.

Thanks for all your help folks,

Obsidiangel1982


As @UDG said, port-forwarding DOES compromise your internet security. The actual port number you forward determines just how much you are compromising. Forwarding the Well Knows Ports is much worse than forwarding a random port. The bots that are out trawling the internet are looking at well known ports because they don't have the time or inclination to scan all 65K possible ports for every IP address. They need well known ports so that they can associate an application with that port so that they can apply the know weaknesses of that application in attempts to crack it.
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September 18, 2014 4:36:40 PM

kanewolf said:
obsidiangel1982 said:
I work from home, but I also play video games and I want to play Terraria with a friend. In order to do so, I must forward my port. My question is, will port forwarding compromise my internet security in anyway? If so, please explain exactly how or lead me to a place that will tell me so. This is important so that I do not compromise things at work.

P.S. In case, it matters, I will not be playing games on the same computer that I use for work, but they are on the same network and connected to the same modem.

Thanks for all your help folks,

Obsidiangel1982


As @UDG said, port-forwarding DOES compromise your internet security. The actual port number you forward determines just how much you are compromising. Forwarding the Well Knows Ports is much worse than forwarding a random port. The bots that are out trawling the internet are looking at well known ports because they don't have the time or inclination to scan all 65K possible ports for every IP address. They need well known ports so that they can associate an application with that port so that they can apply the know weaknesses of that application in attempts to crack it.


So can I just use a random, lesser used port number? Do you know?
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September 18, 2014 4:52:08 PM

obsidiangel1982 said:
kanewolf said:
obsidiangel1982 said:
I work from home, but I also play video games and I want to play Terraria with a friend. In order to do so, I must forward my port. My question is, will port forwarding compromise my internet security in anyway? If so, please explain exactly how or lead me to a place that will tell me so. This is important so that I do not compromise things at work.

P.S. In case, it matters, I will not be playing games on the same computer that I use for work, but they are on the same network and connected to the same modem.

Thanks for all your help folks,

Obsidiangel1982


As @UDG said, port-forwarding DOES compromise your internet security. The actual port number you forward determines just how much you are compromising. Forwarding the Well Knows Ports is much worse than forwarding a random port. The bots that are out trawling the internet are looking at well known ports because they don't have the time or inclination to scan all 65K possible ports for every IP address. They need well known ports so that they can associate an application with that port so that they can apply the know weaknesses of that application in attempts to crack it.


So can I just use a random, lesser used port number? Do you know?


It looks like (I don't play) that game requires 7777 as the port. I didn't see anything else. Here is the WIKI page about setting up a Terraria server.
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September 18, 2014 5:04:17 PM

So can I just use a random, lesser used port number? Do you know?
[/quotemsg]

It looks like (I don't play) that game requires 7777 as the port. I didn't see anything else. Here is the WIKI page about setting up a Terraria server. [/quotemsg]

As per that page, i SHOULD be able to use a random port number. It says that you need to make sure that other users are using the correct port to connect if you don't use the default port #.

One last question, is the choosing of the port # the only thing that compromises the security? If so, that's excellent, I'll just use a lesser-used port.
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