Curated port reference

Port 445: SMB

SMB commonly uses port 445 over TCP. Review its purpose, traffic direction and operational security considerations.

445TCP

SMB

Direct-hosted SMB file, printer and named-pipe traffic.

Typical use

Windows file shares, domain controller access, Group Policy, software deployment and administrative shares.

Traffic direction

Client to server

Security considerations

Never expose SMB directly to the public internet. Require signing or encryption where appropriate and disable SMBv1.