Port Forwarding; Dangerous?

cheechwood · 03-09-2008, 03:40 PM

Hello all,

I've recently discovered torrents and I've run into a bit of a problem. I'm currently a college student living at home still and unfortunately the home router is under an administrative password through my father. When going through Bit Torrent setup, I realized I had to forward a port.

Unfortunately, my father doesn’t want to forward a new port because he feels that the hole punched in the fire wall by doing so is too dangerous and that any “legitimate” program wouldn’t ask you to do so.

All in all, my question is what are the realistic dangers of forwarding this port? Does this really blow open the firewall and why does Bit Torrent ask you to do so?

Thank you and I hope to hear back soon,
Eric

cheechwood · 03-09-2008, 09:44 PM

Anybody have any answers?

**johnwill** · 03-10-2008, 08:32 AM

Please review the Tech Support Forum Rules & Conduct, and you'll see we provide no support for P2P applications here at TSF.

03-09-2008, 03:40 PM	#1 (permalink)
cheechwood Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 4 OS: Windows XP sp2	Port Forwarding; Dangerous? Hello all, I've recently discovered torrents and I've run into a bit of a problem. I'm currently a college student living at home still and unfortunately the home router is under an administrative password through my father. When going through Bit Torrent setup, I realized I had to forward a port. Unfortunately, my father doesn’t want to forward a new port because he feels that the hole punched in the fire wall by doing so is too dangerous and that any “legitimate” program wouldn’t ask you to do so. All in all, my question is what are the realistic dangers of forwarding this port? Does this really blow open the firewall and why does Bit Torrent ask you to do so? Thank you and I hope to hear back soon, Eric

03-09-2008, 09:44 PM	#2 (permalink)
cheechwood Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 4 OS: Windows XP sp2	Re: Port Forwarding; Dangerous? Anybody have any answers?

03-10-2008, 08:32 AM	#3 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,921 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Re: Port Forwarding; Dangerous? Please review the Tech Support Forum Rules & Conduct, and you'll see we provide no support for P2P applications here at TSF. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience