Andrew,
As always backups are a good option. I routinely burn the contents of /etc, /var, /home and /root to DVDR's in case something goes wrong like my laptop is stolen, dropped, or I'm just clumsy and issue a rm -rf / accidentally. (if you need nice easy backup software for Linux look into Mondoarchive. it creates bootable restore CDs/DVDs).
Firewalls are handy but given you are logging in from school I imagine you've poked holes for SSH and given the raft of SSL vulnerabilities I suppose the worst could happen.
Automated updates / emerge --update / apt-get upgrade can cause problems and I've had it happen before that I can't boot after. Usually your data is safe and sound so worse case you boot with knoppix and fix it or backup data and rebuilt.
As for your "processing noises" I assume you are talking about disk activity. Most systems run at least some scheduled jobs at night like indexing files so that the locate command works, rotating logs, etc... This is quite normal. You probably are fine if this is the only weirdness you've noticed.
Unless your data changes lots and is really important you are probably in MUCH better shape than most with your weekly backups.
If you want to minimize the likelyhood of someone installing a keyboard sniffer on your school machines and reading your keystrokes as you login you could also look into S/Key ontime passwords which are really handy when logging in on untrusted machines.
Jeff
Andrew Graupe wrote:
For the last month or two, I have been especially paranoid about what could happen to my computer, beyond all reason (I'm behind a firewall). I made obsessive backups and such, but I still feel paranoid about the following:
Windows XP SP2. I've turned autodownload off because I fear this will break things, as it has been reported to do in certain circumstances.
I think my linux box might be 0wned, because it makes "processing noises" in the middle of the night (might this be xscreensaver?).
Sometimes I fear that Windows will corrupt itself, as it has been known to do in the past.
Sometimes I fear that emerge --update world, or a kernel update, will make me Gentoo system unbootable.
Sometimes I fear that either harddrive will die for no reason.
Sometimes I fear that my Windows XP system disk will not boot.
This has probably been exacerbated by my Windows system not booting up do to some sort of Dell BIOS idosyncracy.
What should I do? Have any of you had this happen to you? I have gone so far as thinking I should set up my old computer with an ultra-stable gentoo configuration, firewall it completely (hardware router+iptables), make a new account for school on my fast box, and do weekly backups onto CD, which could then be put onto the stable box.
Is this beyond the realm of being security-consious?
Regards,
Andrew
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