security

[xylex_blaiste]

i haven't heard of an anti-virus software for linux before. i've heard of its firewalls. but probably because i'm still new to linux. ( not so new really. i have used it for almost 2 years now, coz our teacher in school insist that we program in java using linux. so we had no choice. it was only lately that i got really interested in it. and it's worthwhile indeed! yeah! ) anyway, a lot of viruses, worms, etc., come up everytime, and it affects winbloze OSs mostly. or at least that's the general impression. my impression that is.

so how is linux secure from this threat? i'm sure there are "viruses" made for linux/unix systems.

so i'm just wondering if there is a real threat to linux with regards to viruses and the likes, or is it more prone to hacker attacks? how safe is it when you connect your machine to the world?

[Allblack]

I believe there are linux virusses but they are very rare. It's definitely no threat. Just read somewhwere a couple of days ago that Linux remains the most attacked system on the net. I can't remember the percentage. freebsd was only 2%.

You can make your machine pretty secure if you disable unnecessary services like ftp,telnet,etc and make sure you keep up to date with patches. The Red Hat firewall seems to be very good IMO although I have been told a hardware router is even better. I have both

[xylex_blaiste]

what's this hardware router you are talking about? is this something physical or a software? by most attacked, you are saying that it's what hackers are hacking, right? how do ii disable telnet, ftp, etc...?

oops, i thought i originally started this thread in Security? why's it here in Linux? my apologies guys...

[Allblack]

The router connects me to the net. Maybe you call it cable modem or something.A hardware router is physical and mine has a built-in firewall and network switch. RedHat has a software firewall. In my situation I can block at two different levels. If the Redhat firewall is set to medium it will not let in telnet sessions.

You can disable services you don't need with chkconfig. Look at the man page or do a search for it on this forum.

Yes, with most attacked I mean that Linux is the platform that is most targetted by hackers

[genlee]

Firewalls on a desktop are pointless to use. Firewalls are used to filter inbound/outbound traffic from a network. If you do not want the internet to have access to a certian service on your desktop, just shut down the service.

netstat -antwup | grep LISTEN <- That will give you a list of services that are currently listening on a port and the pid to it. Kill any of the services you do not need.

[xylex_blaiste]

ok, thanks guys!