Anonymous Poster
Epic Contributor
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2005
- Messages
- 29,678
Re: Windows-98, 2000, ME, XP? - Personal Firewalls
When you obtain a GNU/Linux distribution, it will most likely contain a
webserver, ftp server, rpc, network file system, etc (all for free, by
the way). I don't know why they are enabled by default in most
distribution, they probably shouldn't be. The reasoning here is that
every open port is a potential entry point for a cracker.
It is not hard to disable these. All you need to do is go through the list
of open ports ("lsof | grep LISTEN") as root, and disable each one
you don't need by editing /etc/inetd.conf or disabling the startup file
for that process. There are guides for this all over the web.
www.securityfocus.com is a good starting place.
My opinion is that your sense of security with Windows is misplaced. Have
you patched your XP box against the latest heinous PnP vulnerability yet?
=======================
Windows XP vulnerable to hacker attacks
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Associated Press
Dec. 20, 2001 |
Microsoft's newest version of Windows, billed as the most secure ever, contains several serious flaws that allow hackers to steal or destroy a victim's data files across the Internet or implant rogue computer software. The company released a free fix Thursday.
A Microsoft official acknowledged that the risk to consumers was unprecedented because the glitches allow hackers to seize control of all Windows XP operating system software without requiring a computer user to do anything except connect to the Internet.
[snip]
When you obtain a GNU/Linux distribution, it will most likely contain a
webserver, ftp server, rpc, network file system, etc (all for free, by
the way). I don't know why they are enabled by default in most
distribution, they probably shouldn't be. The reasoning here is that
every open port is a potential entry point for a cracker.
It is not hard to disable these. All you need to do is go through the list
of open ports ("lsof | grep LISTEN") as root, and disable each one
you don't need by editing /etc/inetd.conf or disabling the startup file
for that process. There are guides for this all over the web.
www.securityfocus.com is a good starting place.
My opinion is that your sense of security with Windows is misplaced. Have
you patched your XP box against the latest heinous PnP vulnerability yet?
=======================
Windows XP vulnerable to hacker attacks
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Associated Press
Dec. 20, 2001 |
Microsoft's newest version of Windows, billed as the most secure ever, contains several serious flaws that allow hackers to steal or destroy a victim's data files across the Internet or implant rogue computer software. The company released a free fix Thursday.
A Microsoft official acknowledged that the risk to consumers was unprecedented because the glitches allow hackers to seize control of all Windows XP operating system software without requiring a computer user to do anything except connect to the Internet.
[snip]