To Ping or not to Ping that is the question

A while back this was posted. I confess I thought it was the reverse that if my system didn't reply the pinger would "think" I don't exist.

Can any kind soul out there explain this issue for me?

 

Already explained here... together with the stealth nonsense.

 

Thanks for the references.

What is the view then when behind a solid router?

Seems to me that router will respond to the ping correctly, no matter what settings I have for the SW FW? In other words, the router vendor settings are smarter than my silly settings on stealth? Or do I place to much faith in the router guys?

 

The router will probably give you "stealth" on a test, with maybe port 113 showing up as closed on some. You can fix that if you want also. You're fine behind a router, even a cheap NAT router.

 

The consumer grade routers I have used (Linksys, D-Link, Cayman, Zyxel, Belkin, ) I think were all selectable to respond to a ping or not, and default not. Probably due to GRCs excellent propagandizing of stealth. Currently using Linksys with various 3rd party firmware with the same capability.

 

Yes , most if not all more recent routers have the option to block ping... if that is a concern.

Cheers,
Fax