When you conduct a “ping sweep,” you send an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request to a range of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to determine if the host computers at those addresses have network connectivity. While a ping sweep is a useful troubleshooting tool in a business network, malicious users can also use it to flood and incapacitate networks with these requests. Therefore, many Network Administrators, and even security-conscious home users, protect against such attacks by blocking incoming echo requests (pings) from sources outside their networks. For the home user, the easiest way to accomplish this is via the Windows Firewall. Tips Warnings Writer Bio
