Security for a home desktop

[divakar]

i am running Caldera's OpenLinux WS 3.1.1 for my home desktop. Apart from Mozilla for web browsing I use KMail over KSaferPPP. I also have Apache, PHP and MySQL running purely for my own learning with no need for any external machines to connect to my machine.
The question: To protect my computer from internet worms etc., I have set up hosts.deny to All:All since I do not need to provide any services over the internet. KSAfersPPP's firewall setting is set to low security. I do not have any other iptables etc set up.

Is this enough security for a home deskop used for browsing and POP3 mail?

[hlrguy]

I have two threads for you. One was from last night and reports the results of a test I ran. You have your machine secure, all ports closed, but I recommend a firewall so that people can't even detect you exist.

First link, how to test how secure you are...

http://linuxnewbie.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=69361&highlight=firewall

You can see my results.

Second Link, where to get a firewall. I use firestarter.

http://linuxnewbie.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=67089&highlight=firewall

hlrguy

[divakar]

Thanks for your response. I tried the first link with the following
results:

Almost all ports probed by NanoProbe resulted in "Stealth: There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that a port (or even any computer) exists at this IP address!".
Some ports (21-FTP, 113-IDENT and 5000-UPnP) resulted in "Closed: Your computer has responded that this port exists but is currently closed to connections."
Is there a problem with respect to these latter ports? Why is the
computer responding to probes of these ports alone despite the
hosts.deny file being set to All:All?

I will check out the firewalls next ...

[linkz]

thx hlrguy, just installed.. Ive been meaning to look into this security issue :)

[Sol_Zhen]

Firestarter works under GNOME, right? What happens if I change my desktop to KDE?

[Hayl]

one thing you may want to consider is scheduling chkrootkit and f-prot to run each night in the daily cron job.

chkrootkit = checks for root kits
f-prot = scans for viruses and trojans

i have the following in my cdron.daily
#!/bin/sh
#
# cron script to run chkrootkit and f-prot to check for:
# root kits, trojans, viruses
#
date > /var/log/disinfect.log
chkrootkit >> /var/log/disinfect.log
f-prot -auto -disinf -nomacro /* >> /var/log/disinfect.log

#End

chkrootkit = free
f-prot = free for home user / single system

[hlrguy]

Originally posted by Sol_Zhen
Firestarter works under GNOME, right? What happens if I change my desktop to KDE?

I use KDE, it works fine.

hlrguy

[Sol_Zhen]

Originally posted by hlrguy
I use KDE, it works fine.

hlrguy

Great. Looks like I found a firewall. :cool:

This is a great forum. I lurked here a bit before installing Red Hat as a dual boot with Win XP. Did the install this morning -- painless. Didn't have time before work to play. Can't wait to get home to explore.

One of the first apps I'm going to install will be the firewall. Then probably an anti-virus.

[hlrguy]

Originally posted by Sol_Zhen

This is a great forum. I lurked here a bit before installing Red Hat as a dual boot with Win XP. Did the install this morning -- painless. Didn't have time before work to play. Can't wait to get home to explore.


Welcome aboard!

hlrguy