A while ago I came across a site with these permissions listed as a good default for Slackware I believe...

/bin/ root.root 711
/boot/ root.root 700
/dev/ root.root 711
/dev/audio* root.audio 600
/dev/dsp* root.audio 600
/etc/ root.adm 711
/etc/conf.modules root.adm 640
/etc/cron.daily/ root.adm 750
/etc/cron.hourly/ root.adm 750
/etc/cron.monthly/ root.adm 750
/etc/cron.weekly/ root.adm 750
/etc/crontab root.adm 640
/etc/dhcpcd/ root.adm 750
/etc/dhcpcd/* root.adm 640
/etc/esd.conf root.audio 640
/etc/ftpaccess root.adm 640
/etc/ftpconversions root.adm 640
/etc/ftpgroups root.adm 640
/etc/ftphosts root.adm 640
/etc/ftpusers root.adm 640
/etc/gettydefs root.adm 640
/etc/hosts.allow root.adm 640
/etc/hosts.deny root.adm 640
/etc/hosts.equiv root.adm 640
/etc/inetd.conf root.adm 640
/etc/rc.d/init.d/ root.adm 750
/etc/rc.d/init.d/syslog root.adm 740
/etc/inittab root.adm 640
/etc/ld.so.conf root.adm 640
/etc/lilo.conf root.adm 600
/etc/modules.conf root.adm 640
/etc/motd root.adm 644
/etc/printcap root.lp 640
/etc/profile root.root 644
/etc/rc.d/ root.adm 640
/etc/securetty root.adm 640
/etc/sendmail.cf root.adm 640
/etc/shutdown.allow root.root 600
/etc/ssh_config root.root 644
/etc/ssh_host_key root.adm 640
/etc/ssh_host_key.pub root.adm 644
/etc/sshd_config root.adm 640
/etc/syslog.conf root.adm 640
/etc/updatedb.conf root.adm 640
/home/ root.adm 751
/home/* current 700
/lib/ root.adm 751
/mnt/ root.adm 750
/root/ root.root 700
/sbin/ root.adm 751
/tmp/ root.root 1777
/usr/ root.adm 751
/usr/* root.adm 751
/usr/X11R6/ root.xgrp 751
/usr/bin/ root.adm 751
/usr/bin/* root.root 755
/usr/sbin/ root.adm 751
/usr/sbin/* root.root 755
/var/ root.root 755
/var/log/ root.root 711
/var/log/* root.root 600
/var/spool/mail/ root.mail 771

I am curious of what permissions you all use to secure your box or if you have any comments on those listed.

Those permissions look pretty good to me, although it doesnt mention permissions on users
actual home dirs, if all users have +x on them and user has used bad permissions on
private directories a mallicious user could use a brute force to enumarate that users folders and
steal their confidential data. I recently had this issue on a shell server so I created a priv dir
which is 700 inside each users home dirs and have warned them to store any sensitive data in here.
It also doesnt mention umasks, if it is not a web server then umask 066 in /etc/profile might be
advisable. Unfortunately my server was a web server and there were too many problems with
users not making their html/cgi's readable and executable, so you have to also find the right
balance between usability and secure permissions.

Regards

What if I have each user's home directory as 700 and the contents with the default permissions? Is that ok/secure?

I have an http(s), ftp, and ssh/telnet servers running. When an unprivileged user logs in to the shell server (and I've logged in as one and tried this), they don't have access to the other users' homes. Would this affect anything that might try to access the user's home directory (since other users have no r/w/x access)? Is this ok?

Also... since my server is public (to some degree, public meaning someone else other than *me* has access), do you think it is ok to let unprivileged users read/"ls" most of my file system? I know that you can lock the user in a chroot "jail" to their home dir (although I haven't got that to work). Or should I not bother, because since they can't change anything, just read it? Plus any sensitive data would be in my home dir, right?