<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Apr 21, 2010 at 12:29 AM, John Stevenson <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:john@jr0cket.com">john@jr0cket.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<div class="gmail_quote"><div><br>Am I wrong in thinking this post is really a warning about not setting
you router up securely? <br>
<br>
If you are unable to control the router or the IP address your Ubuntu
box is assigned, then you can always run a firewall and/or AppAmor on
you Ubuntu box.<br></div></div></blockquote><div><br>For those wanting a graphical interface for IPTables, you can use Firestarter (available in the repos). It's a nice interface that covers most functions. From the command line Ubuntu has ufw - the uncomplicated firewall, which is effectively an easy method to configure basic firewalling (eg. ufw allow ssh)<br>
<br>I can't emphasise enough how important it is to secure the perimeter device effectively though. If outbound filtering is enabled and services are only enabled on requirement, we'd see a drop in viruses, worms, spam and other nasties. Think back to the "Slammer worm" (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL_Slammer">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL_Slammer</a>) which compromised windows boxes at a rapid rate, but could not have propagated anywhere near as fast if outbound firewalling was enabled.<br>
<br>The same goes for IRC controlled botnets - if you restrict outbound IRC traffic from only the machines that you use IRC on, then the infected machines cannot be controlled.<br><br>The majority of spam comes from hijacked PC's - if your perimeter device only allows the mail server on your network outbound access on port 25, then spam cannot be sent from a compromised desktop. Furthermore, logging on the perimeter device can also be used to identify threats from within the network (if you see a blocked IRC or SMTP traffic it gives cause for investigation).<br>
<br>I hope this gives a little food for though....<br><br>Paul<br></div></div><br>