What is the new tool we're building? Yes. Are you ready for it? I certainly think so. Now, I'm not even going to leave much to our listeners mind right now, because they're going to be blown. How can you get a free lifetime access to it? A free lifetime access to it? Really? Dang. All right, there you have it. Free lifetime access to a tool that's going to help you out. And not only is it a tool that's going to help you out, we're going to talk about what problem does it solve for you? Yep. This is the only question that made me kind of cringe a little. What is the computer network port? Yeah. I think I know. Like, I know network or ports, but then you threw that word network in. Right. I was like, huh, maybe it's a little different than what I was thinking. Yeah, well, and there's multiple meanings of that word too, because there's physical ports, right, where you stick stuff in. Yeah, that's what I have, yep. Yeah, and there is that, but this is a virtual port, I guess you can call it. But it's going to work within our metaphor of phone calls, so I have hopes that it won't be too confusing once we get into it. Excellent, excellent. Okay, there's some of the questions that we're going to be addressing in today's episode. So here we go. Welcome back. Thanks for tuning in. I'm Nick, and this is Super Simple Security Principles. Listen each week and learn how to think, not what to think. This is episode 53. And by the way, the name of this episode is awesome, awesome. Bulletproof my home. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Like, isn't that what we all want to do? Right there, man, that's a huge statement. So this is our third episode in the series of Home Network Security. So gonna throw that right out there. This is series, or episode three of that series. So Makani, welcome in, welcome back, our master guardian. Yeah, thank you. Well, and thank you for that introduction, and I just want to add, you know, the Bulletproof, you know, we did an episode a while back about Bulletproof Dojo, which is, you know, still in the works. But in general, we're just going to be weaving in more and more of this Bulletproof concept to help reinforce, teach, you know, that security is about layers, about different kinds of layers. And we really want to get as many layers everywhere as we can. And we kind of wrap that up and encapsulate all in this Bulletproof concept. So you're just going to see that more and more. And I'm with you. I like that. It just really gets me going, that idea. Right. Well, and it gives us such a great goal to work for, you know. But like, we really want to Bulletproof your home, your security. Like, I love it. Your ID. Yep, exactly. And, you know, for this new tool, we don't have, you know, like a official name for it yet. But we do have a website that, you know, we have reserved. It's just kind of an under construction website for the moment. But there is a place you can put in your name and email address. And we'll talk about that more in a minute. But the domain is BulletproofMyHome.com. So, yeah. And not only will it be the home of this tool, but it's going to be kind of the hub for all sorts of good stuff for protecting your home network. Okay. I'm going to probably pack all the information from this whole series of podcast episodes, which looks to be the longest series we've done to date by the time we're done. Not so far. We're only at three right now. But I think, I don't know, I'm guessing it's going to be like 10 or something. So, but... All right, man. This is going to be a long series. I like it. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, try to pack in like so any, so part of the kind of the high level of this tool is to help find basically holes on your home network. And so we want to give information about how to fix those. Anyway, lots of good stuff there. So, and I just have to say too, that, you know, I love being a master guardian and helping people stay safe. But I still also love being a software developer and building cool stuff, you know? And so getting to combine the two roles, master guardian and software developer, makes this episode also a little extra cool and fun for me. Although, just to be clear, Kem will be doing, I'm sure, most of the coding. Right. But I still squeeze in some here and there, you know, plus I get to do, you know, like most of the design work. And so that kind of helps quench some of my software developer, you know, thirst. Desire as well. Yeah. So... Thanks, Kem, by the way. We don't shout out Kem much, but... I know. He does the cool stuff. Well, and he, you know, he does all the website work. He does, you know, he's the one who gets all the, you know, the podcasts put together and upload. Like he's anything and everything behind the scenes. So... Yeah. Oh, yeah. I agree. I appreciate calling out. Can never do that too much because, yeah, he's a key piece, but an invisible piece of our team most of the time, you know? Right. Right. So... That's why we love him. You know, he's willing to do all the dirty work behind the scenes, not take credit for it. Man, this guy, he's a workhorse. We really love Kem. Yeah. Amen. So I talked about this a little bit last time before we actually get into the tool itself. I just wanted to kind of one last piece of introduction of, you know, why we're talking about this tool. Because, I mean, I could just build it, give you the website and leave it at that. But just like with any tool recommendation I can give you, you know, be it, you know, we build it or somebody else, like I'm not just going to recommend it. I'm going to teach you the basics of how it works. I want you to understand, you know, what threats it's going to protect you from and at least the basics of how it accomplishes that. All right. So at least you can kind of understand the value proposition and how it fits into your overall protection strategy. And so really that's the goal for today is just to give you that knowledge about this tool. That seems pretty simple. We're keeping this episode straightforward. I like it. Okay. So let's hear about this tool now. Okay. So the first thing is, as I mentioned, we don't have a name, but I can give you is the name of the type of tool it is, you know, like hammer or screwdriver, right? Because as I mentioned, computer geeks have this. This is not remotely a new type of tool. This is not a new invention, right? It's been around for a long time. We just want to innovate on it in the sense of making a really user-friendly version that's accessible to everyone. So the name of the type of tool, and you don't necessarily have to remember, but it's just a port scanner. Okay. So this gets back to that first question of what is a computer network port, right? Because in order to understand what a port scanner is, we've got to understand what this specific type of port is, because it's not a physical port, right? Okay. Just like we've been talking about, our metaphor with router and home network has been about making calls, right? Yeah. Now, this is a different type of call. This is a computer networking call. It's not a phone call, right? Okay. Okay. So to bring that back and tie it into that is, so think of a big corporate building with lots of offices in it. There is often one phone number that you can call to reach any of the people inside, right? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, yeah. How do you reach those individuals? Extensions. Extensions, exactly. Yep. And it's just a number, right? I'm an extension 343 or whatever. It's nothing crazy or complicated. It's just a number. Right. And computer networking port, it's exactly the same. Okay. So the only difference, of course, is instead of letting you call different people, it's letting you access different kinds of services. So for example, if you want to visit a web page, that's a particular extension or port number. If you want to send email, that's a different extension. If you want to check email, that's another extension. They're just simple numbers. Gotcha. And lots of extensions. Yep. Yep. And they're standard. With extensions, obviously, a different person, a different building is going to be different. But computers, it's standardized. A certain number means a certain thing, generally speaking. We shouldn't be surprised by that. Computers working specifically off of numbers. Right. Yeah, exactly. So now that we know what a port is, we can kind of connect this back a little bit to the attacks that we discussed in the previous episode, episode 52. Those calls that are coming in to us. Exactly. Yep. Right. And so when those calls are coming in, they are on a particular extension. They're trying to access a particular service. So they might be checking for that remote administration that we talked about. Is that available on the router? Or, for example, I know this one's relevant for you. They might be checking to see if they can connect to an Xbox at your house. Okay. Because gaming and gaming consoles are another common one that for multiplayer gaming, specifically with other people, sometimes some of those calls get directed because it makes things work better for multiplayer gaming with your consoles. Okay. Okay. And so they'll be checking, can I call? Is there an Xbox listening at the other end? And so the idea is the hacker will place a phone call and see if the router accepts that and passes it to any device in your network that then answers the call. Yeah. But if no devices ever do, then the attack's over. And that's all they were able to do. They were able to just try to make a call. And that's why, you know, the whole don't answer the phone is why it's really, in a way, trivial to be totally safe. Yeah. Because they can't do anything. Yeah. Does that make sense? Absolutely. If you don't answer a spam call, they can't spam you. Right. Yeah, you don't have to listen to them. They can't try to trick you, you know. Right. The thing is, the moment you answer a call, then they could try to take over the device that answered the call. And like we talked about last time, spread to other devices in the network. Yeah. Okay. Don't answer those calls, man. Yeah, exactly. Well, so any given hacker may call just one extension or just a few or a whole bunch. And there's, in computers, there's a lot. There's hundreds. Um, but it just depends on, like, what they built their specific weapon to do. Yeah. And so what a port scanner does, getting back to that, the tool we're building, is essentially the same thing as what the hackers do, minus the bad stuff if the phone call gets picked up. Okay. So this tool is you'll go visit a website and say, okay, I want you to check my router. And so it will act like, you know, because it's coming from the internet, right? And so then it will make a bunch of phone calls, one to every extension available, on to your home network's router, and see if your router, you know, forwards and accepts any of those calls. Nice. See if anyone, anyone picks up. Yeah, yeah. And you know, that's it. Other than, of course, then if instead of attacking, if a phone call is answered, of course, the port scanner's job will just be to report that, which ones were answered. Yeah. And, you know, you'll be able to have it just check some specific ports, extensions, if you want, or you, you know, if you want the definitive, I want to check the whole range, you know, it takes a few minutes. But that's the definitive way to know if your router is following that simple, don't answer the phone rule. I like it. So that's, yeah. Yeah, it's pretty robust and thorough. As you'd kind of want it to be. You'd want it to check all those extensions. You know, you'd want it to really do a thorough job. I love it. So this is basically a way of testing. Are you getting crap solicitation calls coming in through your router? Yeah. Yeah, too bad we can't do it for our regular phone so much, huh? Right? That's, yeah, that's what I was thinking. I was like, man, you know how many calls I could screen? Yeah, I know. It'd be nice to have the sort of equivalent, but. So, and then as I mentioned in the beginning, you know, if it does find any, then we want to, as much as possible, give some instructions there. Okay. We found that the remote administration, you know, port is on. Try to help you, you know, get that turned off. Nice. It won't be perfect because, you know, there's so many different models of routers and things like that, but we can at least give some information about what's happening, some details about it, you know, guide you as much as we can anyway towards getting that fixed. Excellent. Excellent. So, look, if any time in between these last two episodes, you've wondered, is my router secure? Watch this bulletproof website. As soon as we get it built, as soon as it's ready, we're going to let you know and you can check, right? Yeah. It's going to check all these extensions? Well, so for now, by the time, you know, we get this episode live, we'll have, you know, just a placeholder in there, bulletproofmyhome.com. Excellent. But, you know, the tool won't be live yet. Right. Yeah. So. It's coming. It's coming. It's an awesome tool. Yeah. I'm excited. Yeah, so, you know, our call for action today is, you know, since there's is just to go sign up. And this goes back to that free lifetime access that, you know. List it up. He's about to say it. Yeah, all I'm asking for now, at least, and, you know, I don't know how long we'll keep this offer live, just depends on how soon we get the tool live, what kind of response we get, all those kind of things. But is, you know, just want to see interest and get some people to, you know, test it ultimately and that sort of thing. So all you have to do for now is just put in your name and email address and we'll email you when the tool's ready for use. And anybody who goes and signs up now, before it's ready, will, you know, get free lifetime access. That's a sweet deal. Go put in your name, email address. You put your name and your email address in for free barbecue drawings. Come on. You want a tool to keep you safe that you have free lifetime access for? Come hit us up. Put your name, email in. We're going to send you notification when it's ready to roll. It's free for your lifetime. You know, like, do I need to say anymore? Can we say enough said? No, yeah, I think this should be good. Well, you know, and we won't send a lot of spam, a lot of spam. We don't send any spam, but there are other things like our weekly podcast stuff that you can sign up for as well. Yeah, but you don't have to. So as security folks, we're certainly going to be very strict on our spam policy in case that's a concern to anybody giving out their email address. So right. Dude, I hate spam emails. Seems like it should go without saying, right? I mean, I almost feel weird even mentioning it, but, you know, I've also, you know, given out my email address and gotten a lot of spam at some places that have surprised me over the years. So I, unfortunately, I think it's worth mentioning. So yeah, don't we don't sell your email address or any of those kind of things. So anyway, so yeah. And again, you're going to hit us up to get a free tool. This is awesome. What do you think? Dude, do we need our call to action? Yeah, we're good. We're good to restate. Just visit Bulletproofmyhome.com. I love it. Super simple visit Bulletproofmyhome.com and sign up, of course, but sign up free tool for life. Love it. Dude, that was a good show. Should we tell them about what we're going to do for the next episode? Yeah, do it. Okay. So remember that manual you found for your router in episode 52? You're going to need it because guess what we're going to teach you about in our next episode? We're going to teach you how to be the boss of your own router. Doesn't that sound cool? Take a look. This was something I was like, I want to be in control of my own router. Yeah, let's do. So tune in. We'll keep it super simple. But we're literally going to teach you how to fine tune your router to keep you, can I say safer? Yeah. Well, and that's, yeah, we want to be able to go check your basic settings. And you know, these days, internet is so much a part of what we do that I feel like at least somebody in every household needs to, you know, I can't tell you how many people I've gone and helped where I'm asking them, and they have no idea, you know, where their router is physically, how to access it and configure it anything, you know? Yeah. And I mean, you know, we're not going to, you know, try to turn into, you know, router, you know, computer engineers or anything, right? Right. Just the basics of being able to, to me, it's like, you know, that, you know, how you go, like your switch box, you know, you need to know what your switches are at your house, you know, if a circuit blows or, you know, power issues, like, you know, that's a little bit technical from a certain perspective, right? Right. But it's pretty important. And I feel the same way, just basic router administration is what we want to get into. Excellent. Going to be your own boss or your router. Yeah. Love it. All right, man. That's our show. That was good. I liked it. Are you ready to take action and wondering where to start? Get my Bulletproof MyIdentity Starter Kit for free. The seven most vital layers of protection everyone needs. I'll send you one step at a time and help you if you get stuck. Just go to bulletproofmyid.com and enter your name and email and I will send you the first step. Again, that's bulletproofmyid.com.