LinuxMall.com: Securing Linux and IP-Masquerading

[ Thanks to LinuxMall.com News Editor for
this link. ]

“Linux, with its UNIX roots and ease of network setup, is
becoming the preferred method of connecting to and protecting small
networks from the Internet. Although there are several technologies
that allow Linux to do this, the simplest is IP
Masquerading….”

“Using Linux as a Masquerading Firewall is a natural choice
because Linux is generally more stable and secure than Windows.
However, this can generate confidence that sometimes leads people
to be lax in their security configurations. Although Linux is
more secure than many other operating systems, it is not
impenetrable. Generally, if a Linux machine is left in its default
installed configuration, it will eventually be cracked….”

“Another step in securing your Linux machine is to think in
advance about what your machine will be doing. Will this machine be
a mail server? Will you need telnet access to it? Is it only a
masquerading server and do you have console access? If you ask
yourself these questions, and answer them honestly, you will find
it is very simple to provide a Linux-based masquerading machine
that is reasonably secure.”

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