Do NOT open any ports on your machine!!

ShadowDarkwalker

Hackers frequently run around looking for open ports to hack through. This is a potential security breach for your computer. To make sure ESO is allowed, simply allow the program through Firewall program, it will do what is necessary to allow it through and receive the necessary traffic.

I cannot believe that ANY tech support personnel would EVER suggest doing this. Just dont do it people.

Furthermore, the problem has to be on their end because we are all getting through to other places so, obviously, there is an issue with our connection to THEIR servers. Could be a myriad of things from traffic congestion (DoS) to blocked ports ... in the end, ZOS might be getting hacked!

I dont want to speculate on what their issues are, but I do know its not our issue people. Please do not go messing with the security on your machines, which could result in bigger issues.

Sharakor

I actually opened a series of ports that and afterwards applied a full DMZ on my computer because tech support told me to. Coincidentally 4 days later I received an automated e-mail from ESO that my account had been accessed from a different IP, luckily I saw that e-mail 1 minute after I received it and changed my password. This does make sense and the problem is certainly on ESO's end and they keep trying to blame the issues on the clients.

Saerydoth

If the issue were on their end, then everyone would be having connection problems. The fact that some people are able to play fine indicates that the problem ISN'T on their end.

Now, it's possible the problem isn't on your end either...it could very well be somewhere in the middle. But that's how the internet works. Zenimax doesn't own the internet (and neither does Blizzard or any other MMO company), and they cannot control how the traffic from your machine gets to their servers. If you are having connection issues, the best thing to do is to do traceroutes and post them in tech support, and someone may be able to tell you where the problem is.

That said, most people here seem to be confused about what "opening" ports means. Opening ports on the firewall on your computer is not a security risk if you are behind a router. The only way I could see this being a security risk is if you first forward ALL inbound traffic to your computer (typically called DMZ on consumer routers) and then open every port.

ShadowDarkwalker

Saerydoth wrote: »

If the issue were on their end, then everyone would be having connection problems. The fact that some people are able to play fine indicates that the problem ISN'T on their end.

Now, it's possible the problem isn't on your end either...it could very well be somewhere in the middle. But that's how the internet works. Zenimax doesn't own the internet (and neither does Blizzard or any other MMO company), and they cannot control how the traffic from your machine gets to their servers. If you are having connection issues, the best thing to do is to do traceroutes and post them in tech support, and someone may be able to tell you where the problem is.

That said, most people here seem to be confused about what "opening" ports means. Opening ports on the firewall on your computer is not a security risk if you are behind a router. The only way I could see this being a security risk is if you first forward ALL inbound traffic to your computer (typically called DMZ on consumer routers) and then open every port.

Ya, ok ... yes they can control it ... you ever hear of tunneling? I am not, nor I doubt is anyone here, having connection issues so I dont know why that was implied since I never said anything about connection issues in this post. Being as we can all connect to the Internet ... ya, dont think thats an issue. And btw, I never said Zenimax or anyone else "owned the Internet," but thanks for trying to put words in my text box.

Yes, I fully understand that most people do not know about opening ports, which was the purpose of this post, this is why I said not to do it. Because if you do not know what you are doing, it should not be done, no matter who advises it. There is another post about the 301 issues here in this forum, where a CS agent replied to a customer/player and suggested to them that they open ports. In fact if Im not mistaken, Ive seen it in a couple of threads here. It also does not matter if you are behind a firewall, router, or any other network device, opening ports on those devices designates trusted traffic to those devices, so they no longer monitor them. This is why it is a security risk. All traffic or some traffic also does not matter, allowing traffic through any trusted port is a security risk.

In any case, the CSR's should NOT be advising people to do this because it is not necessary.

Seravi

ZOMG wowzers. There are tons of hackers out there that scan ports all the time trying to find open spots to crawl into systems. Thanks for posting this as it is VERY good advice! An open port is like leaving your car unlocked at night or your home.

Saerydoth

Seravi wrote: »

ZOMG wowzers. There are tons of hackers out there that scan ports all the time trying to find open spots to crawl into systems. Thanks for posting this as it is VERY good advice! An open port is like leaving your car unlocked at night or your home.

Depends on what the port is. If you open a port that nothing is listening on, then it doesn't do anything. That said, on my Linux server (my internet-facing machine/router), I have a grand total of 6 ports open. I know exactly what each one is for, and there is no way to "hack" my system with any of those ports, as all of my listening services are locked down via limited privileges and chroot jails.

But there is no need to "open" or forward ports associated with the game. If this were an issue, it would cause you to not be able to connect *at all*. If you're having latency issues, this will NOT help in any way.

Seravi

Yeah we have a server room at our home. Totally understand ports, listening etc but most users don't. If CS feels the user has a connection issue they should be getting tracerts and such to see where the drop/drops are and work from there. It may just be a wacked ISP in the middle causing the issue.

ShadowDarkwalker

Saerydoth wrote: »

Seravi wrote: »

ZOMG wowzers. There are tons of hackers out there that scan ports all the time trying to find open spots to crawl into systems. Thanks for posting this as it is VERY good advice! An open port is like leaving your car unlocked at night or your home.

Depends on what the port is. If you open a port that nothing is listening on, then it doesn't do anything. That said, on my Linux server (my internet-facing machine/router), I have a grand total of 6 ports open. I know exactly what each one is for, and there is no way to "hack" my system with any of those ports, as all of my listening services are locked down via limited privileges and chroot jails.

Right, which means those ports are being monitored/watched by a service. You need to understand that most people do not use these services, much less Linux. Windows is probably the most popular OS, and most users (MS recommended of course ) do not use these kinds of services because the OS tends to do most of the work for you (especially true of Win8.1).

Just because your system is being carefully monitored, and you know what you are doing, does not mean other people are. As you so carefully pointed out, most people do not know about ports so that being said, CSR's should not be advising their customers to do any such thing. Most people are not you sir (? or ma'am??), so they need to be advised not to do this. Thats great you know what this is saying but most others do not, which is the point of this post.

By the way, opening a port means that anything can come and use it ... monitored or not. Just because nothing is listening at the time, does not mean it can never happen, when in fact it can. This is exactly what hackers look for when attempting to penetrate networks.