Expert: Doug Woodall - 8/20/2008

Question
Hi Doug, online security scanners report my port 20 is closed, 21 open and 53 closed. All other ports are stealthed. This problem has been dogging me for some time. I'm running Windows XP Home and Norton Internet Security 2008 (after free upgrades from 2006 to 2007 to now from Symantec, who don't seem to have a clue). But maybe it's not their fault. I've tried Comodo and ZoneAlarm with identical results, and a friend lent me a hardware firewall which set up OK and still returned the same result. I'm at my wits' end. Any help?

Answer
Hi Kevin,
Port 20 should be closed if a Firewall is in use, it waits for a FTP command to open it.
Port 21 would be open for any FTP client exchange, its probably for the Windows Firewall.
port 53 should be closed, its for server in and out.

You look secure to me.
Head over to HackerWhacker.com and use their Port Probe test to check for yourself.
Heres the link.

http://whacker8.hackerwhacker.com/freetools.php

Hope this helps.