Hello everyone. I have a question about which firewall(s) to use to protect my Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10 installation. I just realized I have been running without an active firewall for some time now! So I quickly downloaded a program called gufw in Ubuntu repositories to try to take care of the problem but I don't think that's enough. So my question is: What is a good GUI firewall program/front-end to protect my system? Note: I'm paranoid

thanks!

What's wrong with gufw?
You can use guarddog or lokkit or ipcop or firestarter or ...
http://www.simonzone.com/software/guarddog/
http://www.builderau.com.au/program/...0266131,00.htm
http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/ipcop/wiki
http://www.fs-security.com/

A general page
http://www.tech-faq.com/download-free-firewall.shtml
or
http://www.google.com

or create your own iptables script

I just want a firewall to up the protection of my system. If gufw all I need, so be it. I don't have much knowledge in this area.

EDIT: I have heard that connecting to a proxy server is a good way of protecting my PC. Do you know of a free, trustworthy one repo?

Again, knowledge is limited, sorry and Thanks.

A firewall is a firewall
They all use iptables.
Take a look at
http://aymanh.com/tips-to-secure-linux-workstation
http://rkhunter.sourceforge.net/
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/
For some tips on how to secure your system.

1 members found this post helpful.

So in general all I need is one firewall tool?

EDIT: SO far I have downloaded/installed 3. They don't seem to be doing very much... But based on the GUI, I like firestarter so far.

one firewall would be enough yes.

So I guess I will go with Firestarter, since it seems to have more options and is easier. I think my IP is assigned via DHCP but I am unsure. Will the default active firewall + an exception for BitTorrent keeps me protected? Also, is there such thing as a free, trustworthy proxy server? I would like to be anonymous on the internt so people cannot fingerprint my OS with nmap or when you got to those whatsmyipaddress websites they can't figure it out (:

Thank You LQ.

You can use
http://www.google.be/search?q=free+p...ient=firefox-a
or install tor
http://www.torproject.org/

However, tor is only for anonymous surfing, not for downloading torrents and other crap,
Do not abuse the tor network for this

Much criticism of torrents having it in your signature (:

I saw you just did a simple Google search on free proxies but some of them, especially the top 2 results, have many advertisements and pop-ups and pop-unders which doesn't look too good if I am going to be trusting them with my security. I like the 2nd URL you gave me; it seems like a very legitimate company, but uyou say torrenting on tor is not good. How come?

Thanks repo,

leopard

Because you abuse the bandwith of the nodes.
However, you can't use bittorrent via tor or a proxy
My point was not to abuse the tor network for downloads

These are linux torrents, not mp3, avi.....

Not trying to rustle any feathers, sorry ):

I would just like to be more secure; because of the day & age we live in. The "surveillance age," and the "information age," come to mind?

I don't torrent often, but I was hoping I might be able to use the proxy so I could remain anonymous no matter what I do (at least mostly). If I musn't torrent while on a proxy, I won't, but indeed clarification is what I needed. Thanks, and if anyone has a recommendation for me, I would be much appreciative! You Guys Rock.

Make sure you do a fair share of reading about Tor before using it. Specifically, understand what it does and doesn't do, as well as what security problems it creates. Also, you'll want to connect to Tor via something like Privoxy (a privacy-enhancing proxy server). As for the GUI firewall front-end (which is the main topic of this thread), you should be fine with any of the suggested ones, as they are all capable of generating the basic configuration you seek. Go with whatever feels best to you, and then use a port scanner to verify that things are working as expected.