Allowing Windows Time Update

I'm using the enhanced ruleset and to allow Windows to update the date/time I created the following rule - it works correctly but can anyone with more experience just check a couple of things for me:

1) I got the remote address of time.windows.com and put this in the destination ip section - is this IP dynamic? / could I have left this blank without making my PC any less safe?

2) Do I need the source IP as equals my @ or again could I have left this blank without making my PC any less safe?

3) There doesn't appear to be a specific 'time' application so I can't add an application to this rule - is it ok to leave enabled all the time - again without making my PC any less safe?


Thanks
SimonW

 

All I did was hit "update now" for my time. Went into the logs and looked for timewindows.com entry. Right click it and select Add Rule: UDP: Allow Port 123 client. Works like a charm.

 

...or you can try Atomic clock sync with a embedded list of (non-microsoft) time servers

just my 2 cents

 

Or you can use time.nist.gov, or specify any other server you want Windows to use.

 

Hazeleyze,
Yes that's exactly what I did to start with - however:

It's easy to right-click the log and create a new rule but at this point I've opened port 123, so I wondered if I could restrict the default settings.

Therefore I changed it as described.

I'm just trying to understand if the changes I've made have made it any more 'secure' as per my original 3 questions?

 

Hi SimonW,

Yes, it's better to refine the rule like you did.
However I don't know if the IP could change.

Yes, it's also better to put "equal my @" for the source IP.

About the application, I suppose these requests are done by the system, perhaps through svchost or services applications.
You can also try to refine rules in the Application Filtering part, by finding which one needs the UDP 123 (if you put the !! attribute for an application, the log will show you the port and IP used).

Frederic

 

Many thanks for the feedback Frederic


SimonW