How Do I Turn Off Router Port Forwarding

[ianmac57]

I have had a 'near miss' with a Deadbolt ransomware attack on one of my QNAP NAS devices attached to my home network. (The NAS was affected but I have a back-up available - painful process to clear and wipe NAS and then reload all data but better than total loss or 0.05BTC !)

One of QNAP's security recommendations was to turn off port forwarding on my Vodafone gigafast broadband router. (QNAP has already disabled uPnP facility on the latest versions of the NAS firmware - I can still remotely access my two NASs via myQNAPcloud).

So the question is - on the Vodafone router settings how do I turn off Port Forwarding ? and do I also need to disable uPnP on the router as well ??

Thanks !!

[Jayach]

Port forwarding is off by default. It is necessary for you to create it if you want to use it. 

Yes, turning off UPnP will stop any devices from creating their own.

[ianmac57]

My Static Port Mapping shows "No port mapping defined"

My Dynamic Port Mapping shows both NASs with their IP addresses; TCP and UDP Protocols (whatever that means ?) and Local Posts and Public Ports.

uPnP is enabled - should this be disabled (and will devices on the local network still be able to see one another ? - especially laptop to NAS ??)

What should I do next ?

[Jayach]

The port mapping shouldn't affect your local network but anything coming in from the internet might/will have problems. Disable it and see, you can easily re-enable it if it does stop things working. I thought you said QNAP had already stopped using UPnP.

[CrimsonLiar]

TCP and UDP are protocols used for sending data over networks.  Knowing exactly how they do that is not important for 99.9%  of users and needing to go out of your way to leverage them is important to an even smaller crowd.

UPnP on the other hand...  UPnP allows devices to open up ports - holes if you like, in the firewall that your router places between your router and the internet (so no effect on your LAN unless you double NAT!).  That's usually all well and good provided the devices are reasonably secure and their software and firmware are up to date.  Even then, there will be instances where attackers take the lead and devices are compromised before software & firmware can be updated.

If you can avoid it, don't open ports or use UPnP.

And everything @Jayach said...

[ianmac57]

Ok, thanks both !

I'll try disabling uPnP on my Vodafone router and see if that has any (negative effects) on my LAN devices.