Why scan ports?
Port scans should be non-controversial. If your machine is connected to the Internet, you are exposing all of your ports, and you should expect connection attempts on any of them. Because a port scan is sometimes, very rarely, a prelude to hacking attempts, many fascist leaning system administrators mistakenly classify the port scan itself as a hostile act. But just because a port scan may on rare occasions reveal an exploitable weakness, it is not the same as actually exploiting the weakness. It is no different in principle from counting the windows and doors of a secure building from a public sidewalk. If a machine is on the public Internet, the ports are visible from that public sidewalk. It is the responsibility of building security to evaluate any threat, no law can be passed against looking. (Except under fascism, of course.) Who is paranoid about their ports? Typically it is the most powerful who can afford the high cost of total paranoia. Some systems utilize sophisticated secu
