I know a bit about networking, I also know a little about hacking/exploiting

/*
For the sake of people who don't know what hacking and/or explioting is

- Hacking : A general term refering to the act of breaking and entering (in electronic terms)
- Explioting : A method in which a vulnerability is taken advantage of (refering to the exploitation of programming errors to steal a root password)
*/

Basically what I know is that when it comes to securing your computers on the internet there are 2 types of leaks... connections which go out from your 'location', and connections which are being accepted from the internet (or 'listening sockets")

2 examples:

- an apache server running on port 80 (listening)
- a trojan application trying to connect to the outside world (resolving host)





So let me start my two questions:

// Question One

My router blocks all incoming connections apart from one to an apache server, is the router guarenteed to block all other traffic? if the router is only accessable to the internal network does that mean its brute force safe? do routers have vulnerabilities? Is my apache web server safe?, I'm using PHP and trying to be very secure.. should I be trying alot harder? Should I protect SSH?

// Question Two

For a connection to establish from within my network all a station must do is ask the dns server for a location (is that right?) could I log all non http requests? I want full control, where should I start?


Thanks.. like I said I'm semi noob, but I do know what's at stake.

(Red hat 9, newest kernal, fully upgraded? i run red carpet.. im pecimistic.. redhat wants me to pay for a subcription)

damn forgot the poll! damn if a moderator reads this can you add this poll?

? Are you concerned about the security (or lack of ) in your system/network ?

1. Yeah, but every day I deal with it properly and effectively
2. Yeah, I think I'm doing enough but I don't know
3. Yeah, we definately lack security
4. Nah, I am not concerned about security and I have reasons
5. Nah.

Best you could do is set up a separate thread for your poll.
I'll then graft this thread onto the new one.