Router/modem hacking concern?

[atoota]

Ok, thanks EC. I did all that, port forwarding is disabled. Seems to have been already. Went through the log and nothing seems suspicious. Guess it's as good as it's going to get.

One game I tried required me to run a command through WINE to get it to play. I guess that is not so great, in terms of security?

Guiverc, thanks for the info. I'll do a fresh .iso install then.

Cheers

[EuclideanCoffee]

One game I tried required me to run a command through WINE to get it to play. I guess that is not so great, in terms of security?

Not completely bad. Do you trust the vendor? If so, it should be fine. Are you playing online? If so, are there official servers or servers maintained by the game's vendor? If so, you're likely safer than running on a community server.

[atoota]

Not completely bad. Do you trust the vendor? If so, it should be fine. Are you playing online? If so, are there official servers or servers maintained by the game's vendor? If so, you're likely safer than running on a community server.
[/COLOR]

Hmm unfortunately I think it's more of a community server? I'm not sure exactly though. The game in question I've linked below. It's a game I played nearly a couple of decades back for a year or two. It went through various iterations and eventually got completely cancelled around 2011, I believe. In the last few years there have been a few of these emulator servers bringing it back to life. I noticed the linked one below a couple of weeks back and decided to give it a try on the Linux machine I set up. (The original was simply Star Wars Galaxies) I havent played it since posting here lol.

https://swglegends.com/

[TheFu]

For all computing devices, stay patched, create backups, don't visit dangerous parts of the internet. Routers are just computers with extra networking hardware.

Almost all consumer routers are poorly maintained. Some small biz routers do a good job of making patches available, but those tend to be a little harder to configure than what a home user would have. Pay attention to all router bugs in the news and take action.
https://arstechnica.com/information-...an-we-thought/
https://www.zdnet.com/article/fbi-re...arate-network/
https://securityledger.com/2019/08/h...s-in-15-years/
All those extra features on home routers tend to have security flaws and should not be used. Don't connect storage to the router. Don't setup FTP access externally, and don't use the DLNA server that some routers have. There is a long history of router vendors adding "features" that should never exist or be used on any router. Routers need to do 2 things. Route and firewall. Anything else is adding complex software and asking to be hacked. If your router firmware hasn't been patched in the last 30 days, assume it is out of date and go get the newest version. All routers should have been patched a few times this year. If that hasn't happened, then your router is out of support and needs to be replaced.
Or you can move to a type of router that is maintained and patched more like Ubuntu is, nearly weekly, there are updates/fixes available for some router distros. Many well-known "brands" of consumer routers have terrible security records. A few have been so bad, they are mandated by the govt to be monitored for 20 yrs to ensure they maintain the hardware they sell with fixes to the firmware.

For Ubuntu, the Basic security guide should be sufficient for most home users:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BasicSecurity

There are security guides for almost any need, Do online banking? There are techniques to reduce risk over on Brian Krebs' website. Best to be paranoid even when "they" aren't out to get you, since "they" are out to get anyone they can. All of us.

Stay patched, have daily, automatic, versioned, backups. Know how to restore the backups from yesterday or 33 days ago. That's the summary.

[EuclideanCoffee]

Regardless of which operating system you use, you'd need to trust that service. I'm actually familiar with Star Wars Galaxy. I didn't pick it up because I felt uncertain about the service. It's not that I distrust people and think they would do intentional harm while hosting a game, I suspect their infrastructure could be taken over easily. The same for any continuation of a video game online. I have to wonder if some of these computers are XP machines running software 2 decades old. Having done some online game development maintenance has made me wary of them.

If you look at the wiki on basic security, do a control + f find function for WINE. In it, you'll see many warnings on how malware can run from WINE. Though this is true, malware is common to Linux as well, but malware for Linux is commonly transmitted different methods and not through web browser hacking and the like. Since Android is a commonly used Linux device that uses a commonly used security feature called SELinux, it's not true that you are also absolutely safe with vanilla Linux anything, even following basic security.

What can you realistically do?

As I said earlier, it comes down to trust. Think of every web site you visit, every game you play, and every program you run as a thing of trust. Ask if you trust whatever you are about to do. You can come up with a pretty strong answer by asking yourself if you know what the source code is, if it has been vetted by security experts (see updates for security fixes, CVEs), if the program has direct access to your root (do you need to run sudo or su), and if the service sends data back to a web server.

Based on how many yeses and noes you decide on, then you know what is a gap. After you determine the gaps, see if you can willing to accept the gaps in order to use the software. Sometimes you just can't say no to playing a fun game with friends online. But maybe only do it on an old dedicated desktop that has limited access to the rest of your LAN. Good luck.

[atoota]

Righto, thanks. Yeah, I dont think the people running the server would be out for doing malicious harm either. Just, as you say, others who might take advantage of such a server. I guess one saving grace for these SWG emulator servers is that the populations are pretty small, and likely wouldnt attract too much attention.

Yeah, the desktop I put Linux on, was pretty much as you describe. It was an old Windows machine that I was no longer using. I deleted everything using dban, then put Lubuntu 18.04 on it. I used the browser a couple times, played a DVD, and the rest has simply been Star Wars Galaxies. All my work, and everything else, is done on a couple of other machines (Windows based). I dont have any kind of home network setup between any of the machines - they cant access one another. Nonetheless, would I be correct in thinking that as they all still use the same router, that makes the whole setup vulnerable?

This thread has scared the proverbial outta me lol! I disconnected the Linux desktop from the internet, and will probably run dban on it again. Then maybe just dismantle it and throw away the various pieces. It really is long in the tooth, and not good for much these days, so I wanted to experiment putting SWG on it to see if it would work. I guess I proved that it could do that, at least.

[TheFu]

This thread has scared the proverbial outta me lol! I disconnected the Linux desktop from the internet, and will probably run dban on it again. Then maybe just dismantle it and throw away the various pieces. It really is long in the tooth, and not good for much these days, so I wanted to experiment putting SWG on it to see if it would work. I guess I proved that it could do that, at least.

I would be 10x more concerned about Windows than Linux behind a patched router.

PATCH YOUR ROUTER.

[EuclideanCoffee]

This thread has scared the proverbial outta me lol! I disconnected the  Linux desktop from the internet, and will probably run dban on it again.  Then maybe just dismantle it and throw away the various pieces. It  really is long in the tooth, and not good for much these days, so I  wanted to experiment putting SWG on it to see if it would work. I guess I  proved that it could do that, at least.

lol. I've been there. I'm still using Linux, but I guess I use it very differently today.

I seriously encourage you to at least try running the software from your old desktop. If data privacy is a concern (I notice you used dban), replace your disk with SSD (big upgrade). Encrypt your disk when installing. Lubuntu okay, but I recommend Xubuntu or MATE. Then enable UFW.

After that, start learning your other computer's security settings, learn which firewall you want to have, and monitor your router.

It seems scary, but knowing this stuff will really protect your privacy and personal security. You can also find a job doing this if that ever strikes your fancy. Best of luck.

Edit. If you have issues with UFW, I expect a new topic posted here.

[atoota]

Righto, cheers. I did have the game running for nearly two weeks before it occurred to post here. So it works okay. That said, two weeks was enough lol. The game, back years ago, was pretty broken. Not much has changed, and the in-game economy...well I dont want to even use the word 'economy'...it's a mess. Suffice to say, I've had my fill.

All that said, I might dban (I dont really have that much stuff that is private. I suppose if someone wanted to steal my picture for voyeuristic purposes I'd be more concerned with their mental state than my pic being 'out there' lol ) it all again, and set up Xubuntu, just to have a look (at Xubuntu, not SWG).

TheFu, I'll look into getting a new router then. Mine is pretty old, and hasnt had a firmware update for a long time. I had no idea about all the things you mention about patching routers. That said, I dont use vpns, iots, or the like, so maybe that helps?

[kevdog]

What kind of router do you have?