Hey wuts up bc its leap again and this time he has installed linux ubuntu so far it is great except how do i get a firewall on this thing i dont want to get hacked or anything of that sort. i installed using wubi by the way the easiest way to install linux without messing with you harddrive.

As far as I know, there is only one Ubuntu Firewall program called Firestarter. You can get this program by clicking the application menu>Add/Remove. At the top right of the add/remove window, is a drop down menu that should say "Support Ubuntu Applications". Click it, and then click "All Available Applications". Then Search for Firestarter and install it.

After installing you should be able to find the app under menu>system>administration.


Hope this helps.

And avoid logging in as root, that is good for security too. Part of linux security though, is the "Security through Obscurity" method.

Ubuntu disables the root account by default, but allows root privileges as needed via sudo.

Here's a good guide for setting up Ubuntu ------> http://ubuntuguide.org/

there are actually several linux firewalls. Though, they are not any where near as common as other products, because linux can be configured to act as a firewall as well. As far as ease goes though, using synaptic or automatix to install firestarter is probably the easiest.

I guess that I do not but that idea at all, but I am not exactly sure what your idea of Security through Obscurity is? In my world, that comes down to renaming a file in hopes that it will be overlooked, or using non-traditional ports in hopes that they will not be noticed. Both are bad ideas, and in the corporate world, result in loss of data.

So I am sort of curious what you are talking about?

I don't imagine a firewall is greatly important. the design of Linux itself is far more important and what ports are open, etc. but you could put a firewall on if you wanted - i have no idea which, though. the only linux firewall i've actually used came with puppy. i don't use one on my mac and on windows its just the windows firewall.

keep it simple!

By Security through Obscurity they mean that because Linux has such a low market share compared to Windows that virus writers will go for an OS that has far more users to infect and most Linux users have a better idea about how to avoid being infected. Though if you do a lot of things that could expose you its best to be careful

You must be psychic. How do you know what EightPence means?

Security through obscurity means relying on non-standard programming practices and secrecy in a mistaken belief that attackers will be unable to figure out how to bypass security measures. It has nothing to do with market share, or how often an OS is attacked. Linux employs security by design, which is exactly the opposite. Since Linux and software that run on it are largely open source, potential security flaws can be easily spotted and corrected. There is no secrecy involved.



Really? Do you leave all the doors and windows on your house unlocked when you go away too? The more potential routes you have open into your system, the greater the chance that an attacker can find a way onto your system. A firewall is to keep out unwanted traffic.


Unless you are some sort of a security professional that can share with the rest of us a solid argument for not using a firewall, then the fact that you choose to not should not be taken by any one to mean that it is ok to go without one.

A good firewall I use is called Guarddog

to install it do the following

• open the terminal
• log in as root
• type sudo apt-get install guarddog
• yes, then hit enter

Now you have guarddog! To edit the settings type in gksudo guarddog at the terminal (make sure you're logged in as root first.

I use a hardware firewall at the "gate" and all pc's have
their own software firewalls. Shorewall on the Linux boxes and
Sygate on the Windows.

A good firewall is a must. As groovicus stated, not having one is basicly the same as leaving all your windows and doors open at your house.

As for viruses,
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/10/06/li...indows_viruses/


As stated in the article there are very few viruses for linux. Basicly in order to get a virus in linux, you have find one, then download it, give it executable permissions, then execute it.

Also the fact that there are very big distinctions between the different users and their rights/permissions makes it even harder for a virus to do anything in the way of "real damage" to the system. Where as most windws user actually have their accounts set up with "Admin" permissions.

Using Mepis OS...I don't use there version of mail (thunderbird or K). That said, I was having
problems moving around the net yesterday so I went into Guarddog, disable it and all was fine.
Long story short, I thought later that it wasn't a good idea without a firewall. I went back and enabled
it, but I set it to factory settings and it won't let me on the net....right now it's disabled and all is good.
If it makes any difference, this computer is behind a router...Sorry to be so long.....Should I try
somehow to make Guard dog enabled again?

EDIT: Problem over...reconfigured Guard Dog AND got Thunderbird mail working.

Admins, please feel free to pull this post.