Linux Security for a Newbie

[Janet]

The reason I switchewd to Linux is I heard security is much better. So my question is.
1)When you delete a file in Linux Mandrake its deleted right ?? Not just tagged like Windows. 2)What about the swap file does that need to be wiped ??
3) Ive been trying to get a Firewall installed with no luck. Again I want the security but Im a newbie so it must be easy any one recommend a good GUI Firewall.
Thanks :cool:

[Lorithar]

*grins*

no the data isn't gone, but it is likely overwritten fairly quickly

go to http://www.linux-firewall-tools.com/linux/
and use that...

[X_console]

Try PMFirewall or gShield. They're not GUI firewalls, but easy enough to configure. Although I believe someone has written a GUI frontend for gShield.

[dodgetrucs]

I have Mandrake 8.0 SR1 and there are 2 options for deleting when a file is right clicked, "Delete" and "Shred". Shred seems to take a bit longer and I am guessing overrights the file space, instead of just marking it like I am GUESSING "Delete" does...

[MkIII_Supra]

From what I gather about shred is that it takes the file and re-writes it with 11111 then 00000 then more 11111 then I think one more pass of 000000 essentially removing the file from the hard drive.

That is what I have been able to discern about shred. I have it on my Wolverine boxes as well.

[TaeShadow]

To plagiarize from the KDE User's Manual:

Konqueror gives you three ways to dispose of an unwanted file or directory:

You can move it to the Trash directory, which is the safest method as you can get it back when you realise that you have made a mistake.

You can just plain Delete it, which removes the entry from the directory and adds the disk area occupied by the file(s) to the system's list of free disk areas.

Or you can Shred it, which is like Delete, but also overwrites the disk area occupied by the file(s) with random data. Useful for disposing of incriminating departmental memos or similar files when you don't want any trace of them to remain on your system.

Theoretically, even "shredded" files can be recovered by someone with enough skill and determination.

[navy-linux]

Port sentry is not a firewall per say, but it does a fairly good job of keeping people out of a system. It is easy to install. It closes off the ports that you are not using, and listens. Your computer will stop responding to the scan. The computer doing the scan will stop seeing your computer and go somewhere else. You can get it here. www.psionic.com/abacus/portsentry (http://www.psionic.com/abacus/portsentry)

[Bully_Crist]

on a slightly unrelated note, which file do I edit to disable stuff like telnet on boot?

I'm really just planning on using this for the desktop, and I don't need any ftp servers and whatnot running in the background...

[TaeShadow]

Originally posted by Bully_Crist:
<STRONG>on a slightly unrelated note, which file do I edit to disable stuff like telnet on boot?</STRONG>

You can disable those services by commenting out their lines in your /etc/inetd.conf file.