> Please forgive my question if it sounds too elementary, but can > someone please tell me what I can do to prevent hackers from invading > my Pismo? What programs can I use, and what exactly can I do to > prevent it from happening? I have DSL (Earthlink), and was told that > over 85% of hackers are never detected.
Not elementary at all! Security is quite a complex topic, depending on how paranoid you are and what you want to do. If you're running OS X on your Pismo, it comes with a built-in firewall (ipfw). OS 10.2 comes with a built-in way to manage the firewall, but it's very basic -- go to System Preferences -> Sharing -> Firewall. My preferred fiewall manager is BrickHouse, which you can pick up at http://personalpages.tds.net/~brian_hill/brickhouse.html -- it lets you set up custom rules to block common hacks, log them, allow specific IP's to access your computer, etc. It comes with some useful default rules.' There are lots more -- SunShield and Firewalk come to mind -- go to VersionTracker and search for Firewall. Depending on your needs and how paranoid you are, you may want a NIDS (Network Intruder Detection System), which doesn't block traffic based on specific IPs or Ports so much as it does based on suspicious activity. Again, search for NIDS. Before you do anything with any of these: Make sure you know what you're doing and do it on your actual machine, not while logged in remotely! Firewalls can really screw things up if they're configured wrongly. I hope that answers your question! Dave p.s. An interesting thing to do is to view /var/log/ftp.log -- Before I tighteted down my firewall, I found lots of random people trying to access my FTP server. -- G-Books is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- Check our web site for refurbished PowerBooks | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-Books list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-books.html> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-books%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- >The Think Different Store http://www.ThinkDifferentStore.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
