“Despite its relatively secure status when compared to some
other operating systems, Linux is still somewhat problematic to
deal with, especially as the userbase drifts more and more from
experienced technical hands to hobbyists and less experienced users
out to try something new. Considering the insecure way some
distributions are still shipped, and the pervasive and obnoxious
presence of homo scriptkiddeus on the net, there’s a lot of room
for simple, ‘out of the box’ security solutions on Linux.”
“In the Windows world, there are several such shrinkwrap
products that cost relatively little and provide a few bells and
whistles. Linux, of course, has good firewalling functionality
built-in or at least easily obtainable, and it will be better yet
with the new kernel. At the same time, configuring that
functionality is a bit daunting for new users.”
“We took a look at a pair of GUI-based firewalling solutions for
Linux: one a commercial offering from Stormix Technologies (Storm
Firewall), and the other a free software project that integrates
with the GNOME desktop (Firestarter). Both provide graphical
front-ends to ipchains, taking some of the pain out of building
tailor-made firewalls for home networks.”
“It’s always tempting to try to drum up a little interest with a
false air of competition, but in this case it simply isn’t
appropriate: one is a tool that enables the harried network
administrator or savvy (if deep-pocketed) home user to exercise
fine-grained control of a full-fledged firewall, the other is a
fast and easy way for a casual user (or network administrator with
very simple needs) to toss up a fast firewall on a machine with
little concern for the finer points of configuring things.”