# ZoneAlarm Alert
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zonealarm-alert/166583
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 5, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zonealarm-alert/166583 "2003-04-05T00:12:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mipsman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mipsman)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2003, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zonealarm-alert/166583/1 "2003-04-05T00:12:52Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@milo\_minderbinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milo_minderbinder)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2003, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zonealarm-alert/166583/2 "2003-04-05T00:34:17Z")
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](https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2) which tests your firewall’s efficiency.
milo
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2003, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zonealarm-alert/166583/3 "2003-04-05T00:34:22Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@milo\_minderbinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milo_minderbinder)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zonealarm-alert/166583/4 "2003-04-05T00:43:25Z")
Also [here](http://www.ripe.net/perl/whois?form_type=simple&full_query_string=&searchtext=217.21.115.3&do_search=Search) is a WHOIS lookup for the IP address you quoted.
Are you having problems from this particular IP?
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zonealarm-alert/166583/5 "2003-04-05T00:54:40Z")
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.