You’re having problem connecting to a computer in a network, first thing you should do is to PING the computer. Ping is a computer network tool used to test whether a particular host is reachable across an IP network. It is also used to self test the network interface card of the computer, or as a speed test. It works by sending ICMP “echo request” packets to the target host and listening for ICMP “echo response” replies.
Although Ping is useful for network administrators, computer hackers also use Ping to find potential victims on the Internet. By pinging a specific IP address and receiving a response from the IP address, a hacker can determine that something of interest might be there. If you can configure your computer to block ping response, it should heightens the level of security for your computer. I’ve researched on this before but never posted it because thinking that no one would be interested. Yesterday one of our forum member cybercop asked how to block ping, so here it is.
Some routers can be configured not to respond to an ICMP Ping (ping to the WAN port). Like my Belkin N1 Wireless router, it can be set up so it will not respond to an ICMP Ping from the outside. Simply checking the “Block ICMP Ping” checkbox would turn off the ping response.
But if your router doesn’t support blocking ping, there is nothing you can do on your computer because your router automatically respond to ping request.
If you have a direct connection, there are a few ways to block PING. Third party firewall should help you to block ping. I remembered I wasn’t able to ping the computer on a local network when the McAfee Firewall is enabled. As for the built in Windows Firewall, enabling it doesn’t block PING.
Another method to block PING on a single computer is to use IPSec by creating a policy element that will tell the computer to block all the specific IP traffic. The step is pretty long, you can refer to the article written by Petri IT Knowledgebase.
Finally, if you want a simple way to block PING with a click, you should check out Plax Network Suite. Plax Network Suite is an easy to use collection of network tools which give you full control over the internet activity of your computer. You can easily enable or disable Windows Firewall, block all internet traffic and block ping with ONE click.
It even have a port scanner and a visual report of all open TCP/IP and UDP ports and the mapping to the owning application. This can be used to quickly identify unknown open ports and their associated applications.
[ Download Plax Network Suite ]
Sorry here it is in English:
When I play counterstrike i cannot find any servers on steam, as I cannot find any servers on local area network in Garena when I want to play Dota (WC3) while I can play on Battle Net though, neither can my friends ping me on Garena. It works when I play at my friends’ places on their networks though. Might this problem occur because my router (Zyxel P-320W) have a marked option “Do not respond to ping from WAN”?
Now I dont know if anyone knows what I mean with Garena and Dota, but if someone do I would appreciate an answer!
När jag spelar counter strike hittar ja inga servrar på steam, likaså hittar ja inga servrar på local area network i Garena när jag ska spela Dota medan jag kan lira på Battle Net, mina polare kan inte heller pinga mig på Garena. Fungerar dock när ja spelar hemma hos andra på deras nätverk. Har detta att göra med att min router (Zyxel P-320W) har ett alternativ “Do not respond to ping from WAN” som är ikryssat att göra?
Nu vet jag inte om någon här förstår vad jag menar med Garena och Dota, men om någon förstår är jag tacksam för svar!
I tried Plax Network Suite and according to grc.com Shield’s UP test, it doesn’t work. Too bad, because this seemed like a good idea.
This is security through obscurity at it’s worse. Just because an ip doesn’t ping doesn’t mean nmap, or any other port scanner for that matter, will be able to figure out there is an active machine behind it.
Sorry but i didn’t see any advantage if you block ICMP traffic. In fact it doesn’t prevent you that some Hackers find you and also in some other cases nodes think you are offline and thats maybe not what you want.
Thanks, nice share.
Tnx for share Sir Raymond…nice tool…
i have only information of hack another computer technology,so if u can dude . send me this informission to me okzzzzz
Yeah, Comodo CIS also blocks ICMP.
i am the same as shitu
and would love to see something about online games
to get your ping down
Thanks for the heads-up about this software. another one for the Useful Utilities directory I keep.
:)
tankx alot Ray.
nice tool
:-)
[quote]
As for the built in Windows Firewall, enabling it doesn’t block PING.”[/quote]
Yes it does. Check the advanced tab on the Windows Firewall Settings you will find several options related to the ICMP protocol.
Thanks Ray but, Multiplayer games will be affected after applying this trick ?
cao ima li koga??????
Thanks Raymond for this tool.
But can you tell me if there is any tool which allow us to limit the ping amount for some processes or all processes.
Basically i am talking about Counter Strike.When i play it online it usually says “Your Ping is too high”.
May be you got solution for that!!
Thanks in advance…
nice article, alerting users from hackers thanks raymond
Thanks,Raymond.This is what I need,thanks again.By the way,Windows will provide updates to our Windows-user which recommend us to install I.E.8 formal release next week (the 3rd week of this April).Should we install this I.E.8 or not.It’s appreciated if you or someone can solve this problems.Thanks a lot !
Nice article. I didn’t think this was possible.