Let’s be honest, no ports are 100% safe, and they are all subject to different types and degrees of attacks. However, it is also worth noting that some particular ports are definitely more vulnerable than others, most notably, ports that offer file transfer or sharing capabilities. An excellent example of such an exploited port is the SMB port. SMB stands for Server Message Block, and it was a port created by Microsoft and is generally used by system processes to offer file transfer capability across a particular local network. In fact, this port is also extremely crucial in enabling printer-sharing and folder-sharing capabilities on our Windows machines. A couple of years ago, the Wannacry ransomware created a tidal wave of global havoc by exploiting this particular port. Without going into nitpicky details, basically, once a host machine is infected, the ransomware utilizes the TCP 445 port to scan for other vulnerable machines on the same network. Once detected, it will make a copy of itself on that second host machine and infect that computer, and this process repeats itself until it exhausts all possible vulnerable machines. So the best way to prevent this from happening was to immediately disconnect the computer from the network and turn it off to prevent file encryption. Unfortunately, not many people knew about this security flaw, and therefore many governmental agencies and medical facilities around the world were hit particularly hard. Another port that is extremely vulnerable to attacks, even more so than the SMB port, is the infamous TCP 3389 port. This port was also a system default port, developed by Microsoft, used to offer remote control services on windows machines. One should easily be able to identify why this port can be especially dangerous compared to the SMB port because it generally will not be noticeable. When noticed, however, it is generally too late, and personal information could have already landed in the wrong hands. FTP, or file transfer protocol ports, are also extremely vulnerable simply due to their legacy statuses and old age. There has not been a new iteration or newer standards of ports that can be used to replace TCP ports 20 and 21 used by FTP services. There are also countless of other ports that we can talk about. Unfortunately, that would take forever to elaborate in full scope details, and quite frankly, I personally also do not have the expertise to talk about anything beyond my scope of knowledge. Nevertheless, the main takeaway that you should have learned from my post is this critical philosophical idea, and that is, “the more you know, the better off you will be.”