Port forwarding

nightrider1470 · 6 Mar 2018 at 00:12

I notice when I pc game, playing cod for instance, it says "Nat moderate"… will having Nat open allow me to find more users to play with?.

I play zombies and notice not to many people online.. Maybe as the game is old and not so popular... Just wondering if having Nat open would make any difference, regards seeing more users online

Thanks

ChrisD. · 6 Mar 2018 at 08:26

Do you have UPnP enabled?

nightrider1470 · 6 Mar 2018 at 08:29

Yes, I just disabled UPnp high security setting, so hopefully that fixes it

Will test later

ChrisD. · 6 Mar 2018 at 08:57

No doubt someone wearing a tin foil hat will post saying how dangerous that is and you should do it all manually. I've been using UPnP for as long as I remember and I've never had a single issue.

APM · 6 Mar 2018 at 12:50

Try it and see.

Steveocee · 7 Mar 2018 at 15:37

@ChrisD.
I wear a tin foil hat!!

@nightrider1470
UPnP is useful but you just need to be aware it gives devices the ability to poke holes in your firewall. If a device gets compromised it has the ability to poke holes and let more stuff in. I won't go on a rant about how you shouldn't use it as it does work really well in opening NAT but just make sure you're softwares are up to date and stuff is AV'd.

nightrider1470 · 7 Mar 2018 at 15:45

Turned DMZ on or whatever its called and that's fixed it....

ChrisD. · 7 Mar 2018 at 15:49

nightrider1470 said:
Turned DMZ on or whatever its called and that's fixed it....

No no no, don't do that. You're basically exposing yourself direct to the internet.

Simon42 · 7 Mar 2018 at 16:33

If you log the connection attempts that your firewall is blocking and do some analysis you'll start to appreciate why many people are concerned about port forwards and uPnP

Also its interesting to look at the rise of IoT and other devices that are being compromised and used for no good with people none the wiser. Every risk needs to be considered in balance, but its certainly not a risk to be dismissed.

Steveocee · 7 Mar 2018 at 16:59

nightrider1470 said:
Turned DMZ on or whatever its called and that's fixed it....