Re: how deep do i need to dive ?

From: Ari Rankum (Ari_Rankum_at_invalid.invalid)
Date: 03/28/04

  • Next message: Andrey Asadchev: "Re: Need help with FreeSwan on SuSE 8.2" 
    Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2004 06:07:03 GMT

    Beowulf wrote:
    > Do I really need to shell out $60 for those thick books on firewalling and
    > hackproofing my home PC? I really would not rather take the time and
    > energy for that if not needed. I just want my home PC to be secure --
    > running Mandrake Linux 9.2 (soon 10.x) with cable modem. Will be running
    > SSH server occassionally. Will just using the point and click
    > security firewall settings in the Mandrake Control Control Center suffice,
    > or perhaps installing some firewall open source app like GuardDog suffice?

    In addition to a hardware firewall, ipf/shorewall/iptables (as others
    have suggested) readup on chkconfig, netstat, and lsof. Turn off every
    service (using chkconfig or the appropriate rc script) that you are not
    using. If you're not sure, turn it off and see what breaks. Use
    netstat and lsof to make sure only the ports you want open are open. If
    you are just surfing and emailing (no web, print, email, game, etc
    servers), then you could probably get away with no open ports. If you
    are fortunate enough to have more than one machine at home, I'd download
    nessus and use it to scan machines inside your network. Once you've
    done that, you might avail yourself of the "ShieldsUp" test at
    www.grc.com, or some similar over-the-net scanner. In the end, you'll
    have learned a lot and probably made yourself safe against all but the
    mob and government organizations.

  • Next message: Andrey Asadchev: "Re: Need help with FreeSwan on SuSE 8.2"

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