Stealth Mode Connection Attempt Question

Good Morning!
I have a question about Stealth Mode Connection Attempts which are seen in Console Database Searches.

I use a MacBook Pro (Mid 2006 2.2 ghz) and OS X 10.6.8

I honestly do not know how I got to this Console screen. I opened a log file for CrashPlan to look for something and a whole bunch of Console windows opened. One of them had, in the side bar, highlighted as Database Searches- All Messages.

Since my computer has been running slowly lately and any internet page loads have been very slow or even failed (e-mail, too) I took a look at what this was.

One of the entries that is repeated very often says-
Stealth Mode Connection Attempt To UDP (my ip address is here) From 64.233.217.2:53
I tired a few IP look up searches (with the 2:53 and with it as 2.53) and the results came back as unknown.

An internet search for "Stealth Mode Connection Attempt" had results ranging from "No problem, Ignore It" to "That's Just Google Trying To Track You" to "Panic Time- Your Computer Is Being Hacked"

I trust what you all say on this forum (based on fantastic experiences here with many questions!). What do you all think these messages mean? Can I ignore them? Are they possibly the reason my computer (and internet) have become so slow recently?

Thanks For Your Help & Enjoy Today!
Paul

All that means is that something tried to connect to your computer when it wasn't expecting it.

In this case, the IP is one of your ISPs (wideopenwest) DNS server addresses and is more than likely continuing to respond - would guess it is supplying an IP address for a web site you went to after you have closed that page in the browser and the computer is no longer expecting an answer.

Yes, you can ignore them.

Thank You!

Thank You Bobtomay for your reply. I very much appreciate the time you took to give a knowledgable answer.

I'm just curious how you were able to connect the ip to Wide Open West? My searches for ip look up came back as No Results. I must have done it wrong, I suppose. Knowing how might prove helpful in the future (or, knowing me, it may be better if I don't know how).

Thanks Again,
Paul

There is a terminal command called "whois" that will provide you that information. I entered "whois 64.233.217.2" and was told it was WideOpenWest Finance, LLC. Note that I did NOT include the port number that came after the address. That is what the :53 is, a port.

Thank You MacWin.
That's a nifty command to know. And, thanks for explaining about the numbers after the colon. I was curious about that.
Thanks Again!
Paul

whois only works sometimes and can be deceiving since it's possible to have this information blocked or spoofed. For example, many hosting companies will register the domain as their own which masks the fact that the domain is owned by their customer, not them.

@vansmith, true, but it's how we found HIS IP number's owner, which is what he asked.

Absolutely. I was just pointing out how it may not be all that helpful (or even deceptive). You know, me just complicating things (because it's fun).

Hey, that's MY role!

PGB1 said:

Thank You MacWin.
That's a nifty command to know. And, thanks for explaining about the numbers after the colon. I was curious about that.
Thanks Again!

Click to expand...

Hi Paul - I'm assuming that you have 'Network Utility' in your OS version (I'm on Mavericks and put an alias to the app on my dock). But see the attached pic - provides a GUI for many of the standard networking tools, such as 'ping' - 'whois' is a tab which is opened w/ the IP address you provided - had to go through several of the servers listed but an identification was made. Might help if you do not want to deal w/ the terminal command line. Dave
.

Thanks Dave. Those of us who are allergic to command line tools appreciate the GUI tools. I almost posted this earlier but wasn't ready to incur Van's derision

Thanks!
I never looked around in Network Utility before. It is pretty neat and probably be helpful.
OS X sure does some cool stuff.