Is Port Forwarding safe?

Every day thousands of people forward ports on their router to play their favorite games or to setup servers. Setting up a port forward in your router sounds scary at first and a lot of people want to know if it's safe or not. And i get this question often, asking if port forwarding is safe ?. Ill outline the common scenarios and the safety level

In General,

Forwarding ports is SAFE and the safety is dependent on the service at the target port. But safety also depends on how good is your router's firewall and how well it is protected, both internally and externally

Is it Safe to Port Forward to my Gaming Console ?

Yes, it is absolutely safe. Gaming consoles are designed from the ground up to be connected directly to the Internet for multiplayer capabilities. There are virtually zero security exploits discovered in them, and when they are discovered they are closed almost immediately by system updates. There is no way to break in to a gaming console and access your home network. Forwarding a port to a gaming console is totally risk-free.

Is it Safe to Port Forward to a DVR or Security Camera ?

Just like the gaming consoles, the DVRs / IP Cameras are built to be connected to the internet and they will not expose your home network to the outsiders. So, Yes its safe to forward ports to your IP Cameras / DVRs

Is it Safe to Port Forward to a Computer ?

As long as you have Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10 installed then you have a solid firewall in place and can safely forward a port to that computer. With OS X you may have to enable the firewall. While OS X ships with a great firewall it is usually disabled by default. Once you enable the firewall in OS X you should be good to go

The safety depends on the program / service that you run on that port. Install software from trusted companies and always make sure to have your firewall enabled. 

Hope this clarifies some of the concerns. And as a good practice remember to close the unused ports when you no longer need them

moIrving

posted on 21 Apr 20