[HLUG] anitvirus and firewalls

[Alan Pope]

2008/11/8 j michaelson <jmichaelson at gmail.com>:
> a mate of mine has just started using ubuntu 8.10 and is asking me
> about firewalls and antivirus. i've never used any of this stuff with
> linux, but i thought i'd ask here anyway.
>

I don't use any antivirus products on Linux personally. If you
regularly interchange files with windows users via shares or email you
might want to use one so that you can be sure you're not passing on
files infected with windows viruses. But as for native Linux viruses
(not virii by the way :) ), there's so few of them and you really need
to go out of your way to install them, I personally find it's not
worth installing an AV product.

> any recommendations for beefing up security on ubuntu?
>

There are other security measures that are worth taking like securing
passwords, not enabling remote access (ssh, vnc) if not required,
putting the machine behind a NAT router, adding a firewall (using
firestarter for example) and managing user access controls. All of
which are quite deep subjects for many beginners to linux. There are
plenty of security guides online though.

Cheers,
Al.