Searching for Outbound port scan utility

Hello fellas! The name is Michael...

I am interested in testing my firewall for outbound connections. I want to know which ports are open, and which are not. I have searched for hours now and not found a single utility that does this. All port scanning services are for inbound only.

I came to this forum because of this thread I found. It's the closest I've come to finding anything. I was wondering if you could help me find the utility I need.

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=4314

Thank you!
/Michael

 

Hi Michael,

You can download Active Ports (freeware) from here:
http://www.protect-me.com/freeware.html

You can also try TCPView (freeware) from:
http://www.sysinternals.com/NetworkingUtilities.html

Diamond CS has Port Explorer (paid) from:
http://www.diamondcs.com.au/

With your firewall, from the information you glean about your ports from any of the above apps, I would run a specific port scan at Shields Up!: http://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 to answer your questions about your firewall. You are interested in knowing if the port is reported by the scan as open, closed or blocked. An unsolicited port-scan to your IP would be very interested in knowing if the port is open or closed, i.e. the initiator of the port scan would then know there is a potential target computer at your IP address. If the port scan test reveals a blocked result, then your port is safe and your firewall is doing a good job because there is no response to the port scan and it is stealthed from the initiator of the port scan.

Since I use ZoneAlarm Free in addition to another, it notifies me of outbound connection attempts and stealths my ports. A good firewall will drop inbound connection attempts that are not solicited.

-- Tom

 

It sounds to me like you are looking for a port scanner, not a port enumerator. The people from Ipswitch used to make a nice free one. Now nothing is free from them.

I have not tried this, but it sounds like what you are looking for:

http://www.radmin.com/products/utilities/portscanner.php


While you are at it, you might want a good packet sniffer too:

http://www.ethereal.com/

 

The 'Connections' tab in Karen's LAN Monitor will show all outgoing & incoming port connects.

 

I think what the poster is looking for is a tool that will show what ports are being blocked on OUTBOUND connections after you allow it with app control. That is, I've allowed my browser to access the internet, but is my firewall restricting it's traffic in any way? Unfortunately I don't know a tool like this, but I don't think many firewalls filter outgoing traffic by default. Generally you would have to set restrictions manually per application.

I think the best you could do would be to run a port scanner and look at your firewall logs to see if it's blocked any of the attempts.. again, I don't think many firewalls will.

 

I'm not sure if this is what the thread starter was asking for or not, but if so...I am interested in a software utility (or just how to see, in general) which applications are initializing "calling out". I've seen several posters post about an app "phoning home", etc., and am curious to know if there is any way to know how to tell if or when a particular app is calling home, etc.

 

What you need is a port enumerator. DiamondCS makes Port Explorer, which is by far the best.

http://www.diamondcs.com.au/portexplorer/

It will capture the packets of the processes that are running as well. It is a brilliant tool. It is a must have.

 

Close H.,

Can you tell of a firewall rule that will block GRC's Leak Test but
won't block normal net usage.

TIA,

Regards.

 

A 2-way firewall set to prompt for permission for outgoing traffic is one method. An notification will issue everytime a application tries to connect to the network.