[ Thanks to Donncha O
Caoimh for this link. ]
“I’ve been online for years now starting with Windows clients
and now Linux runs on my box at home. I never took much notice of
security beyond the obvious: install updated software, don’t run
things as root, and turn off extra services.”
“A few weeks ago I chanced upon Portsentry [homepage] which I
had looked at about a year previously but never got around to
using. To put it simply, Portsentry keeps an eye on who’s
connecting to your machine. It will take action whenever someone
tries to do something they’re not allowed do.”
“As an example, I installed Portsentry on a Friday night. My
machine is online all during the weekend and I went shopping on
Saturday for a few hours. When I came back I was greeted with a
warning in my log files and an email saying that someone had
attempted to telnet to my machine! I was amazed! Since then
I’ve averaged about 2 attacks every weekend. My home machine isn’t
on some cable network, or hosting a major web site. It’s a dial-up
connection through a 56k modem.”