Firewall?

[argvar]

Windows had a firewall, but was plagued with viruses anyway.

Now that I have installed Ubuntu, should I consider some sort of firewall?

My router does have a firewall though!

[Lars Noodén]

There's not much need for a firewall, it is a technology that is overestimated. But here is some reading:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DoINeedAFirewall

If you still want one, you can turn on UFW. It's there by default, but not turned on. If you want a GUI for it then there is GUFW in the repositories which can be added with a few clicks.

[Hungry Man]

Firewalls reduce attack surface by limiting exposure of services that may accidentally be made public. If you are the only system behind your router it's just about 100% useless. If there is another system, i tcan protect you from a compromised system on there. If you are not behind a router it may be a good idea to use one.

[argvar]

THanks.

[HermanAB]

Linux pretty much *is* a firewall. The default install doesn't need any special netfilter rules.

[Blitzkriegz]

Linux pretty much *is* a firewall. The default install doesn't need any special netfilter rules.

In what way is Linux a firewall? If you connect your computer directly to the internet without a router than use a firewall.

[CharlesA]

In what way is Linux a firewall? If you connect your computer directly to the internet without a router than use a firewall.

Ubuntu doesn't have any listening services by default, so there is nothing to access from the outside.

[SeijiSensei]

Windows had a firewall, but was plagued with viruses anyway.

Firewalls won't protect you from downloading malware. However there are few such threats for Linux because of its small market share, its intrinsically better security (certainly compared to XP and earlier), and a more informed user population.

Not following links to unknown sites or in email helps a lot. Looking at the destination of links is also useful. Something that claims to be taking you to a bank's website but has a URL that points to who-knows-where is a good indication.

The biggest threat to most peoples' computers is the person sitting in the chair.

[uRock]

If it makes you feel safe, then you may enable to UFW firewall by opening a terminal and pasting the following command

sudo ufw enable

*****@*****:~$ sudo ufw enable
[sudo] password for *****: 
Firewall is active and enabled on system startup
*****@*****:~$

If you find that you need to open ports for whatever reason, then you may want to install GUFW, which is a GUI for UFW.

Go here to learn more about UFW https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UFW

[HermanAB]

Unfortunately a firewall is not a magic unicorn that can protect you against evil spirits. The Linux network stack is pretty well debugged and doesn't need a firewall. Most 'hardware' firewalls run Linux. If Linux needed a firewall, then you would need to put a firewall in front of every firewall, recursively. That will be very good for a hardware vendor, but not so good for your wallet.

If you need to protect a bunch of unmanageable Windows machines on a LAN, then set up a firewall on a Linux gateway. If your Linux machine is the only one, then don't bother.