linux security?

[whisker]

does linux need firewalls/anivirus/spyware programs?
if so please post good ones.
ive heard of ipcop but that has to be set up on another computer.

[Victorian_Dad]

I'm using firestarter through knoppix. As root in Konsole, type:

apt-get update

then

apt-get install firestarter

When it's finished type firestarter in the Konsole, and you should be away.

Good luck.

[whisker]

would that work with any distro or just knoppix? im planning on using gentoo

[Victorian_Dad]

No idea (sorry). Knoppix is based on Debian, so it'll work on that though.

[whisker]

anything on antivirus/spyware? or is linux safe from that stuff?

[soulbrothax831]

i would say that it's pretty safe from viruses and spyware. If you still have doubts, you should try out clamav for antivirus. As for a firewall, I'm not sure about that, but most Linux distros already have their own firewall included, and I do recommend having a firewall.

[sarumont]

would that work with any distro or just knoppix? im planning on using gentoo

firestarter is in portage, so it's an easy install on gentoo. It is just a GUI interface for iptables, which is a kernel-level firewall that is in the Linux kernel (duh). It is fully configurable via command-line utilities found at http://www.iptables.org/

As far as virii and spyware go, I've not seen any PoC (Proof of Concept) of anything like spyware. Virii have been written but only as a PoC. It can be done. It can't harm your system if you don't run as root *unless* there is an exploit that it...exploits...to give it superuser privledges. In this case, however, some code would *have* to be executed by you (the user) to instantiate this chain of events.

Long story short, no, you don't have to worry about virii and [spy|ad|mal]ware on Linux. Will you in the future? It's possible, but unlikely (as long as you don't execute untrusted code...).

[Weedman]

over the past 2 days my computer refuses to connect to my ISP
i configured it and it seems that some application is changing the DNS server 1 entry
i read something about a file sharing program changing this
is there anyway to stop some unknown source from changing it?

[sarumont]

over the past 2 days my computer refuses to connect to my ISP
i configured it and it seems that some application is changing the DNS server 1 entry
i read something about a file sharing program changing this
is there anyway to stop some unknown source from changing it?

Don't run the application as root. Make sure you have patched any known elevated privledge granting kernel exploits.

[a12ctic]

when i used windows, i found mostly any virus pretection useless cause i could find most of the stuff myself without help, i dont see that this will change...