Another good reason to use NoScript...

[polonus]

Hi bob3160,

Could not come up with a more recent uttering of that sort, alas the practices are still with us, while some hope is glimmering on the horizon in the States at least: http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2010/07/26

To get back on topic,

People that want to test can do an open relay test here: http://www.antispam-ufrj.pads.ufrj.br/test-relay.html
and here Steve Gibson to help us: http://www.grc.com/dns/crashtest.htm
and http://www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm

Or why abe works: http://samy.pl/natpin/  

(be aware that plug-ins like Flash, Silverlight etc. also can open raw sockets)
http://hackademix.net/2010/01/08/nat-pinning-and-abe/

and finally: http://www.wikihow.com/Test-Network-and-Internet-Latency-(Lag)-in-Microsoft-Windows

polonus

P.S. and when you need a black hole to get rid of attacks: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/networking/?p=452

D

[Asyn]

Latest info...
http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item/Router-access-through-the-back-door-1049263.html
http://hackademix.net/2010/08/01/al_9x-was-right-my-router-is-safe/
asyn

[polonus]

Hi Asyn,

Yes, we saw this coming. Of course it is also because loads and loads of users do not know how to protect themselves and were never taught to change their router passwords, Giorgio Maone also closed the other holes that were there by design,
mind you the Internet was never invented with security in mind, that is why it is so hard to make it a little bit more secure now, see this latest OpenDNS insecurity through acting improperly: http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/fulldisclosure/2010-07/0412.html

polonus

[Asyn]

Giorgio Maone also closed the other holes that were there by design,

See the second link I just added to my prior post...!
asyn