[SOLVED] Should UPnP be enabled or off?

[Frazzy]

I game alot and stream so wondering if i need it on?

 

[kanewolf]

I game alot and stream so wondering if i need it on?

It is simpler on but much less secure. If you don't mind manually port forwarding if required it is much safer to have it disabled. That way no holes are punched in your firewall that you didn't manually create.

 

[bill001g]

Upnp is good and it is bad. It can dynamically create port forwarding rules so that your ports are only open when you are using them. The problem comes is the hacker can use this ability to open more place to attack. So the first program gets in say though a email. You machine can not be directly accessed via the internet. So this first program uses UPnP to open ports in the router that allows their internet based server to actually attack and control your machine.

There are/were some actual attacks against some routers themselves that allowed UPnP rules to be updated from internet.

In many cases the devices using UPnP are game consoles which are too simplistic to allow many of the virus/malware things to run.

It tends to be game consoles more than anything else that need UPnP but it is more which game since a central server game like world of warcraft does not need any incoming ports where many console games do not have a central server and one the end users is providing that function.