I believe the bt home hub 3 leaves port 161 open is this a security issue?
Most users will not be exposed to SNMP (nor will they ever find port 161 open) unless some piece of their networking equipment has an active and open SNMP service port. If our port analysis ever shows that a router (for example) or other network device exposed to the Internet has its SNMP interface open you will want to arrange to disable and close that port immediately. [b]Malicious hackers know that some consumer networking equipment has been shipped with exposed SNMP ports and with default access passwords.[/b] Therefore, it would not be at all unlikely that such a router or other equipment would be quickly discovered and exploited. Malicious hackers would find this amusing, but you would probably not.
Not sure if that helps but apparently port 161 is used to speed up gaming but it was later proved to not to at all, according to this:
On the BT user forum, BT initially said that these ports were left open to speed up gaming. [b]When it was proved by those in the know that this was horse manure they changed tack. They then claimed it was for network management reasons but have refused to expand on this.[/b] As a result they have a lot (more) angry users. Personally I think its a waste of energy persuing that avenue, but I'm still curious about others opinions concerning the security implications of leaving these ports open
Again, not sure if this helps at all, but this is all i found.
Speaking from a very strict perspective, every open port is a security risk.
From Suko’s comments we learn that if your router has port 61 open for SNMP you could be at risk. Just make sure your router does not have SNMP enabled and you’ll be fine.
SNMP is a protocol for network management and as such it would make sense for an ISP to have it open in their infrastructure.
Suko,could you provide url’s for the quotes in your post?
Certainly here you go
^^^ Look for bbnovice post
^^ Look for FloFosterJenkins post a few scrolls down.
For the more technically minded I have found this solution should I use it?
PART 1:
1)Login to BT HUB manager
2)Select ‘Settings’
3)Select ‘Advanced Settings’
4)Select ‘Port Forwarding’
5)In ‘Device’, select ‘User-defined IP’ and enter an arbitrary IP (for example, use your IP with just one digit changed)
6)Click ‘Add’ and ‘Assign’ and ‘Apply’
PART 2:
1)In the same screen, click ‘Supported applications’
2)Add a new application (call it SNMP/TRAM - the two protocols 161 & 4567 represent)
3)Set ‘Protocol’ to ‘Any’
4)In all the boxes labelled ‘Port Range’ and ‘Translate to’, enter 161. Click ‘Add’.
5)In all the boxes labelled ‘Port Range’ and ‘Translate to’, enter 4567. Click ‘Add’.
6)Click ‘Apply’ to apply changes.
How would I know if SNMP enabled I’ve been through my routers settings can’t find anything.
If done right, grc.com should now show ports 161 closed.