On Wed, Jul 4, 2012 at 2:15 AM, Ralf Mardorf <ralf.mard...@alice-dsl.net> wrote: > On Wed, 2012-07-04 at 11:19 +0800, lina wrote: >> Hi, >> >> I don't know which firewall (http://wiki.debian.org/Firewalls) I should >> choose. >> >> Thanks ahead for recommendation, and it will be very nice if you tell >> me why you recommend this one. > > To answer drily: Test them and report what firewall does protect you the > best against no attacks. Linux for home usage was safe, is safe, will be > safe. Yes, it's safe regarding to things I criticize. I don't criticize > protection per se, I only worry about toooo much security for nothing.
I disagree. Its about defense in depth. Because what happens if you get a piece of bad software that opens a vulnerability? And yes, that could happen to a home Linux user as easily as a corporate one, since they are using the same update mechanisms. In fact, I would posit that a home user could be at *more* risk, since, in theory, a corporate user would be limited in the amount and types of software installed...Corporate server vs home workstation. So a piece of bad software gets introduced into the repos. It could happen...And having a firewall in place (an external firewall would have the advantage of not being able to be turned off by said malware). So it comes down to where the line between "protection" and "too much". Which means it comes down to the following two questions. "What are you trying to protect?" and "Who are you trying to defend against?" For a home user, the obvious answer, like with corporate users is "your data." Consider what that data consists of. Personal documents, banking information, pictures, etc, would all be valid types of data. The types of data may be different, but the exercise of protecting it would be the same as a corporate user. Now as for the second question, who are you trying to defend against, let's look at the windows world. You have people taking over boxes, using them in botnets, stealing information, a whole niche market for antivirus and antimalware products. IMHO, there are three things that keep us from being in a similar situation. First, Linux users are generally more savvy than Windows users (and less arrogant than Mac users :) ); second, Linux has a higher bar for base security. Use of a firewall, IDS, reading your logs only enhances that. But the fact that the bar is higher doesn't mean its insurmountable. The third reason we are not in the same boat as windows is that we have a much smaller attack surface than Windows. Windows still has over 90% penetration on the desktop, Therefore, they are the low hanging fruit. This doesn't mean that we will never be in that boat, and only vigilance will keep us out of it. Just my 2 cents. --b -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/cakmzw+y+hv9dq2+v_d4psyrn9fla+jht_yu6p-oemaazox7...@mail.gmail.com
