What shall I do when firewall detects port scan attack?

I am having network at my workplace and it is configured using 2 wire router. All the computers are having Sygate personal firewall developed by Sygate technologies. Nowadays I have observed that all of my computers are getting port scan attack. My Sygate firewall is detecting port scan attack and it is blocking that attack. Many times port scan attack is detected by a specific IP address. So I want to know what I shall do as I am getting these attacks and what all precautions should be done against it.

Your network might be connected to an internet and through internet there are lots of attacks done to a personal computer by performing a port scan over the internet. These attacks are done by an intruder in order to gain access to your computer. As your firewall is detecting a port scan attack, hence it is blocking that port scan attack performed by a particular IP address. So there is no need to worry about that attack, because your firewall is already blocking it.

I am also having a related problem; my eset smart security also detects a port scan attack. I get this attack within ten to fifteen minutes. I want to know that why I am getting this message by my eset software. I guess this things are performed by a hacker, and they are about to target my computer and are possibly accessing the files on my computer. I want to stop this message and also want to confirm that nobody access my personal data.

If your firewall detects the port scan attack, then there is no need to worry about this attack. Your files are safe and are not accessed by a hacker, till your firewall or security software is blocking that port scan attack. Firewall has a basic function to monitor the traffic that goes outside from your computer and also that comes inside your computer. So firewall is essential if you are browsing over internet because it would lock all the malicious attacks, untrusted websites.

When firewall blocks any thing, then it provides a detailed message about it. In your case as your firewall detected a port scan attack, a message would be generated by your firewall which would have following details. The first thing would be date and time of the message when firewall blocked an attack. Then you would find network address of the machine who tried to attack your computer and then the message which would say that incoming connection was rejected and also the port number along with the protocol.

As you would observe the message of the firewall, then you can know the detail about the intruder or person who attacked you by noting down the IP address from the message. Then you should visit whois.net website and enter that IP address there and click on the button and you would find out the details of that IP which includes many details like organization name, zip code, network name, registration date and also address if found.

In order to get rid of these attacks ensure that your firewall or antivirus programs are well updated and also check that your windows is also equipped with latest security software’s. The intruder when gains access to the computer, then they leave the Trojans into your computer which provide them with all the sensitive information from the computer. So check for virus or spyware by installing better antivirus and antispyware program, and try to remove them by using these programs and don’t ever disable your firewall because doing it would make your computer vulnerable to attack.