Default firewall install Red Hat 9?

I've recently installed RedHat 9 - and being a newbie to Linux I haven't yet learned all I need to know in order to selectively configure.

As such, on this install I chose to go with the 'desktop' & "high Firewall. I added KDE option, and System Tools, no games (though the install added a number of them anyway??)

I was looking for a bit of reassurance - is this sufficient to give me a good level of protection while I'm learning to use Linux more effectively? Being a 'gui dependent windows defector' I'm finding the learning process a bit daunting right now - I'm fearful that I may, in my ignorance, jeoporadize my system while I'm still in the learning phase.

Living in hope of a reply :D

gadfly

PS - I do know to never log on as root .

welcome to the board gadfly. i cant help on the firewall thing but i know there are people around that can i am just posting to welcome you to the forums and have fun while your here :)

thank you for posting - it 's alway nice when your new to a board and someone takes the trouble to give you a warm welcome. It sets the tone of a board - and this board - through your 'welcoming' post - is feeling very postive.

here's to ya

gadfly

That should offer a reasonably tight level of security. The redhat/fedora firewall defaults were fairly tight from what i remember.

Jason

Thanks - that does sound reasurring. As I haven't been very quick at grasping the logic of command line stuff (time itself being part of the problem) I'm always a bit insecure when accessing the internet. If I did leave myself open for a virus/worm/ hacker (as rare as that is purported to be) I wouldn't even know how to fix it bar a totally clean install - and that assuming I even recognized that there was such an infiltration.

Thanks for your input - it'll make my browsing forums and accessing info to help me learn linux a much more relaxed activity :D

Catch ya later

gadfly

The default Firewall for Redhat, if set to high will block
www (http) - ftp - ssh - telnet - Mail (SMTP).
This means that any incoming request is blocked, so you can't be a web server, but you can use a browser to look at the web. The same for the others, you can telnet to another box, but you can't telnet in from another computer.

If your computer is connected via broadband directly to the modem with out something else doing any of the blocking I would say that you need to leave it at high. You don't want telnet avalible to the outside world so someone can try (probably will eventually) break into your computer.

If you have multiple machines at home and have something like a Linksys Router/NAT then you can probably modify one or all of the settings that you need by going to the start menu (the fedora or foot or ?? lin the lower left hand) and going to 'System settings' and 'Security Level' .

Thanks logan5 - your explanation makes things clearer re: what the references to http, ftp, ssh,. . . mean in regards to me and the security level I have at present.

One question while I'm on this topic.

I did a Shields Up run a while ago - and got stealth on all ports but 0 and 1 which were simply set as closed. The details were this
"0/ <nil> [] [] reserved

and
1/ tcpmuc [] [] TCP Port Service Multiplexor

do any of you know what this might mean, whether it poses as a concern, and if so what I might do to 'stealth' these two ports?

Thanks for all the help

gadfly

about the games being installed..... that was probably done by KDE getting instaled i think that installs some games by default