On Wed, Oct 25, 2000 at 08:10:08AM -0700, Harald Sundt wrote:
>
>I am a laptop user, and my "network" is the internet...I know that as a
>client (not root) I am in essence a user on a network in which my box is
>both clent and host.
>
>Now as a client of the Internet "network" and my own little loopback
>Network, what firewall, or other security things make sence for me?
>
>For instance, IN EVERY BOOK ON NETWORKING NO EXCEPTIONS they always say
>"for giving yourself and ip address a host name and a domaine name ask
>your administraor"...
>
>...so? Is there some KABBALLAH to assigning a domain name and a box name
>to my box of one?
>
>Like that...
>
Well, for answering the questions that involve "consult your sysadmin",
you might want to install Steve VanDevender's implementation of the I Ching
program: http://hexadecimal.uoregon.edu/ching/
As to your network, security et al:
I would assign a hostname, but no formal networking info; your install
should allow this if you tell it that networking is via dialup. The hostname
should be something convenient and memorable. This info will not propagate
beyond your local box, since your ISP is the authoritative provider of
name service for your IP address.
You will probably want to turn off some of the less useful and more
exploitable incoming services in /etc/inetd, like telnet and ftp (you will
still be able to use these services as a client). You should probably
update the /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny to refuse connections
from improperly identified machines (the PARANOID keyword).
Since you are using dialup, you have a number of security advantages;
the low bandwidth of your connection hinders some kinds of attacks,
your IP address varies each time you connect, making your machine harder
to locate and attack, and you are not accessible for attack 24 hours a
day; you are also behind your ISP's firewall, which will filter out some
basic forms of attack.
You might also want to take a look at the Linux-Security-HOWTO,
http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Security-HOWTO.html
--
On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!], `Pray,
Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right
answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of
confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.--Charles Babbage
