What is port 995 used for?

Port 995 is the standard TCP port used for POP3S (Secure POP3). It is commonly used by Dovecot, Courier-POP, Microsoft Exchange. Secure Post Office Protocol version 3 over TLS for downloading mail to a single local client.

How do I check if port 995 is open?

Enter your public IP or hostname into the scanner tool and click Check. A sub-second raw TCP socket handshake will be initiated from our edge server to port 995 on your target. If the 3-way handshake finishes with SYN-ACK, the port is OPEN. If an RST packet is returned, the host is reachable but the port is CLOSED. If packets time out without response, the port is FILTERED by an ISP or firewall.

Is port 995 safe to expose to the public internet?

Port 995 is generally safe to expose when running standard, patched services with strong authentication. However, always ensure your software is updated and access control policies are strictly enforced.

Why does port 995 show as closed or filtered?

If port 995 reports CLOSED or FILTERED, confirm that: 1) Your service is actively running and bound to 0.0.0.0 (not just localhost/127.0.0.1); 2) Your router has a port forwarding rule directing external port 995 to your machine's local IP; 3) Your operating system firewall (Windows Defender Firewall, ufw, or iptables) allows incoming connections on port 995.