Self-Control is The Key to Success

Many who are new to networking and security wonder what it means to have
“ports” open on your computer. Some get rather anxious when
an online port scan
reveals that something’s open on their system. What follows is a silly, but
hopefully memorable way for beginners to remember how nework ports work.

Houses, Windows, and Midgets

Imagine a house with many, many windows. And imagine that all these windows
are spring-loaded so they slam shut when they aren’t being actively held
open. Also within the house are a number of midgets. Each one is able to
talk to people outside the house temporarily, but only through an open
window.

Well, ports on a computer — just like spring-loaded windows — are also
closed by default. They don’t just stay open on their own. The second
someone stops holding one open, it slams shut. So when you do find one that
is open, your mission is to find out what little midget program is holding
it that way.

For that task you can use a program from Foundstone called Fport. It’ll give
you the name of the
midget program so you can
find him and tell him to get the hell out of your window. Once he’s gone,
i.e. you’ve shut down the program, the port will be closed again.: