Security → Re: Hacker Penetrates Hardware Firewalls

It's your PC and/or network, you are free to do whatever you like with it. I hope that blocking pings makes you feel every bit as secure as a TSA or ICE screening.

Also, my post to which you take exception, had nothing to do with a "typical home user". It was a response to a question about my network, which is a "home office" network that hosts public servers, not a "typical home user" PC/network.

However, since you seem to be asking a question here (even though you provided the answer you want to hear), allow me to provide you a couple of reasons from this site for allowing your PC and/or router to respond to pings:

Line Monitoring

Line quality test

Well then since we're specifically talking about your network (hosting public servers), there's no need to jump all over the idea of disabling being pinged (for any reason at all, even if just for the hell of it).

Other people are speaking in more general terms, and you seem to take offense to disabling being pinged. I think in general it is good advice!

Just out of curiosity, what part of my statement "It's your PC and/or network, you are free to do whatever you like with it." failed to register? I could care less how anyone else configures their network, I will invite you to please point out which of my posts jumped all over anyone who disables pings? I may have implied that doing so is a waste of time, but please point to the post wherein I have recommended that anyone should not do whatever (s)he pleases on their own PC/network.

OTOH, why are some of you so dead set against anyone who takes a different approach (and actually does what Steve Gibson does, rather than what he preaches)?

Just because his freaking website allows ping, doesn't mean that his own personal router isn't set to ignore ping requests (or that he doesn't believe it is solid -general- advice).

That's a ludicrous connection, so there doesn't even need to be talk about "do as I say, not as I do."

You're the one talking about "stop digging" and such so you can refer to the specific case of YOUR network (as if this was not a generalized discussion about general security advice) if you want, but your logic doesn't back up your attitude.

Do you think typical home users -need- to be reachable with ping? That's the question (at least from a "need to know" basis), and if Gibson has advice then he's trying to reach a majority of users. You may not care for that reality (security advice tempered to the majority), but somebody giving security advice does.

They need to be pingable some of the time, such as when running the line quality test at this site. And it is harmless for them to be pingable all of the time.

I don't consider that as typical home use.

Well if it is harmless for them to be pingable, then it's just as harmless for them not to be.

I don't hide ping and I can definitely think of a good reason not to do so: If I call my ISP's service dept. they can see that my router is online and reachable. That can end a lot of speculative "must be your problem" on their end.

I've been thru the drill and used to drink Gibson's stealth Kool Aide but have since realized it's much ado about nothing. Suppressing pings not only verifies that you're there, and hiding, but is as useful as looking at router logs of rejected packets.

I answered your questions, but you don't seem to have even bothered to notice, and instead you just continue the same rant. You also did not even attempt to answer my question to you.

If you can't even pretend to have an open mind or be civil, I think our "discussion" is over.