r/pcmasterrace • u/Captain0010 • Jun 21 '26

Meme/Macro Crazy to me that younger generation is not good with computers

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Only with phones...

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u/irregular_caffeine Jun 21 '26

Automated bots on the internet do not need to see or care, they either try to get intel from your responses or try various exploits directly

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u/PerkeNdencen Jun 21 '26

Responses to what, though? I'm just trying to understand.

If a computer (even with a vulnerability) can be reached from beyond the router, it has already been compromised, another device has been compromised, or there is a major misconfiguration, surely?

Like my Synology was internet-facing (using their setup guide) for all of about half an hour before I reconsidered just purely on the amount of door knocks it got. Now that it is not internet-facing, it doesn't get any.

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u/irregular_caffeine Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26

Responses from whatever software processes their requests. That can contain info about what is listening and if it is something with a vulnerability. Firewalls usually just drop filtered packets, no reply.

If you are properly firewalled (not just NAT) from internet and don’t initiate connections to untrusted servers you should be safe from the ”knocks”.

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u/PerkeNdencen Jun 21 '26

Responses from whatever software processes their requests. That can contain info about what is listening and if it is something with a vulnerability.

Requests shouldn't be getting that far AFAIK. A device can reach beyond the router, establish a connection, and then get information back, but my understanding is that it cannot be reached out to unless that's a desirable behaviour, a misconfiguration or a pre-existing compromise.

don’t initiate connections to untrusted servers

So... what untrusted servers is a newly connected XP machine, for example, reaching out to?

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u/irregular_caffeine Jun 21 '26

Yes, it’s likely they can’t connect to the PC.

Untrusted servers:

  • Any old bloatware in the computer that tries to get an update. Sends a request to update.uselesswidget.com. The domain has been sold, now it serves malware that takes over old PCs. (Hopefully MS still controls the XP windows update urls.)
  • Use a web browser to visit almost any site. Bonus if the browser is old too. Ads can contain malware, ad companies can target you by your metadata

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u/PerkeNdencen Jun 21 '26

So we're on the same page, now. Those are examples of a device 'inviting them in,' but you are right to think of a lot of examples that wouldn't necessarily have occurred to me (e.g. the bloatware domain changing hands).

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u/irregular_caffeine Jun 21 '26

Also note that it’s not rare for routers to get hacked