[lug] Firewall != Linux, Was -> Broadband

[Jeffrey B. Siegal]

Chris M wrote:
> A security hole.  wu-ftpd, sendmail, etc.

These are not part of Linux.  Linux is a kernel.  Wu-ftpd, sendmail, etc. all
run on other Unix-like systems (and even some non-Unix-like systems) aside from
Linux.

If your gripe is with a particular Linux distribution (Red Hat or whatever),
then say so.  Otherwise, you are just making yourself look like a fool, perhaps
wrongly.

> A modem connected to the computer
> in one case. Or a simple DoS, any number of things.  I mean the sky is truly
> the limit with so many knobs to turn and lock down.

Actually, it is pretty easy to turn off all the services with most
distributions.  A firewall doesn't need sendmail, etc. and they should be
disabled.  If you do a "netstat -an" and don't see any listeners, there almost
no chance of a remote exploit. (I can't remember the last time there was a
remote exploit in the kernel itself.)