ubuntu firewall

[itlarson]

if you type "Ubuntu firewall" into Google the first two results say there is no firewall on Ubuntu. Am I correct in my understanding that this is old info, and that Ubuntu has iptables running in the background by default?

[kevdog]

iptables/netfilter is running in the background, however by default there are no firewall rules other than to accept all incoming/outgoing/forwarding connections. This may sound dangerous, however by default there are no listening processes or servers.

[itlarson]

So do I have to set anything? I'm only doing stuff like web browsing, music streams, bit torrent and flash player.

[kevdog]

That's an open ended question. Depends how you access your security risk. To use all of those programs by default, nothing will be blocked by the firewall -- they will all function. If you need to restrict access however (ie in a torrent like application), you may want to set up a few iptables rule. It really just depends.

[ushills]

I find ufw configured through gufw really simply and easy to create rules.

[byStanderone]

...have been using firestarter as gui for the iptables. works fine and user friendly...after a few minutes of orientation.

[lovinglinux]

Since you use torrent which require an open port to listen to, I would recommend using moblock (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=803183) (ip blocklist) plus Firestarter or UFW. If you are willing to learn iptables commands, then you can disable Firestarter/UFW and use the built-in scripts from moblock (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=803183) to create the iptables rules.

Six months ago, when I started with Linux, the whole iptables were too scary. But now I'm running my own rules using moblock (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=803183) scripts an it works like a charm.

[itlarson]

Is there somewhere where I can find out what rules to create and how to create them? I installed firestarter, but don't know what to do with it.

[OrangeCrate]

Is there somewhere where I can find out what rules to create and how to create them? I installed firestarter, but don't know what to do with it.

Here are links to two sources that should answer any questions you might have...

Configuring Firestarter:

http://books.google.com/books?id=M66WOfYoULYC&pg=PA180&lpg=PA180&dq=configure+firestarter&source=web&ots=aTj1xQZB1l&sig=hIRWRbp_JUQiHx5YTxnPa8TAGp0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result

Firestarter documentation:

http://www.fs-security.com/docs.php

[bodhi.zazen]

And for ufw :

Uncomplicated Firewall - UFW - Community Ubuntu Documentation (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Uncomplicated_Firewall_ufw)

and iptables

http://bodhizazen.net/Tutorials/iptables/

If you are looking for a GUI, I suggest gufw and / or guarddog.

guarddog has excellent built in help.

[itlarson]

Thanks.