Baslinux mailing list

[Sindi Keesan <keesan AT iamjlamb.com>]

On Sat, 15 May 2004, James Miller wrote:

> > Thanks for making this all beginner-possible - getting dialed into the net
> > was also failproof and plip was at least doable if not easy.
> 
> Maybe this is too simplistic to mention, but I'll do it anyway, just in
> case: you should stop the http server before connecting to the internet -
> unless you're behind a firewall.
> 
> James

A neighbor insists that I should always use a firewall when going online
and says there is a new worm (sasser) that randomly sends itself to even
the randomly assigned IP numbers.  It does not affect linux, but if I have
Windows 98 on the same computer could the worm somehow send itself to
someone else's Windows computer from mine if I then went online with
Windows?  It does not affect Win98, just the later versions.

I know I am supposed to dial as root and then use my browser as user (not 
that I do this).  Would this be adequate to avoid getting worms while 
online?  I have never received any worms or viruses simply by being online 
(tho I did once download a Windows virus in a Win31 video driver).  My 
mail is via a redhat or sunos shell account.  Could someone explain how 
simply going online as root, dialling into an ISP, with linux, makes one 
vulnerable to attacks if not running httpd?
Is it
kill `pidof httpd`  [not ' but `]


Should we of basiclinux be using a firewall?  It looked at least as 
complicated as networking and seemed to mess up other things.