Linux - NewbieThis Linux forum is for members that are new to Linux.
Just starting out and have a question?
If it is not in the man pages or the how-to's this is the place!
Notices
Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.
You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!
Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.
Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.
Get a virtual cloud desktop with the Linux distro that you want in less than five minutes with Shells! With over 10 pre-installed distros to choose from, the worry-free installation life is here! Whether you are a digital nomad or just looking for flexibility, Shells can put your Linux machine on the device that you want to use.
Exclusive for LQ members, get up to 45% off per month. Click here for more info.
Location: Montpellier, France, Europe, World, Solar System
Distribution: Debian Sarge, Fedora core 5 (i386 and x86_64)
Posts: 262
Rep:
That's a wide question and the full answer depends on your system, environment, use, knowledge, etc. Actually there might be as many full answers as people who are willing to answer
Here are some very basic, very simple advices as a start point...
first of all, as cs-cam pointed out, install an up-to-date distribution and keep it up-to-date (kernel, software, etc...) using the distro update tool (yum, apt, up2date, emerge, etc.)
set a Real root password (other than '000' or 'abcde' or 'john' or your birthdate or your pussycat name... preferably one containing a mix of lower and upper case letters and digits like 'Hf4gpvJ8')
set real passwords for other users as well
keep all those passwords in your headand not anywhere else
make sure telnet and rsh services are disabled (those can be used to connect remotely sending cleartext passwords)
for other services, disable all those you're not using (samba, ftp, http, ssh, nfs, etc...)
for those services you're using and did not disable, pay particular attention to their configuration (non exhaustive list of examples: disable root login for ftp and ssh, disable write ftp access for anonymous users...)
eventually add a firewall that will block all ports (outgoing or incoming) which are not used. If you connect to internet through a router on a private lan, disable dmz on your router and forward to your machine only needed ports.
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing
Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute
content, let us know.