When I get a message from ZoneAlarm that the firewall has blocked Internet access to my computer from a specified site like 217.21.115.3, what has that person tried to do to my computer? Have I been subjected to a ruthless hacker attack?
Don’t sweat it, probably just some script kiddie scanning ports etc over a huge IP range. My install reports 201077 intrusions since install which was only about 6-8 months ago
To make yourself feel better go to This site which tests your firewall’s efficiency.
milo
Most of the time firewall alerts are nothing to be concerned about. >99% of them are completely benign. Normally, with a real cracker attack, you’ll see dozens or even hundreds of alerts in a very short period of time, as the person systematically scans your ports for weaknesses. In short, I wouldn’t worry about it.
Also here is a WHOIS lookup for the IP address you quoted.
Are you having problems from this particular IP?
Incidentally, ZoneAlarm has it’s own whois and help on whether a particular alert is a potential threat or not. You click the More Info button in the alert dialog, and it will open an informational web page.