A modern port scan tool is used (nmap) and this attempts to identify the machine signature, and any vulnerable services running on it. If NETBIOS ports are open (indicating it is a Windows machine), then we attempt to talk to your netbios to see if there are any shares or printers visible, and to query your machine name and domain name.

If you requested 'ping of death' tests, then some ping of death packets are sent to your machine, to see if this will crash your operating system.

If you have a Cisco router, it is probed to see if the IOS is protected or not.

None of these default tests will damage anything. It is possible, but only remotely, that the 'ping of death' tests could cause disk corruption since the OS may freeze in the middle of writing a file. If you are not using your PC for something else, this is extremely unlikely. (Turn off your defragger if you run that overnight though!).

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by KeysCapt
last modified: 2004-02-01 05:21:03