[gentoo-user] Re: DSL and AT&T. About time.

[Grant Edwards <grant.b.edwards@gmail.com>]

On 2009-08-08, Nikos Chantziaras <realnc@arcor.de> wrote:
> On 08/08/2009 05:29 AM, Dale wrote:
>
>> I had thought about picking up a Linksys router and putting it
>> between my desktop and the modem.
>
> Your modem is probably a router anyway.

Almost certainly (at least in the US).  DSL modems with
Ethernet interfaces almost always are routers/firewalls (and
have been since way back when).  It used to be common for Cable
modems to be bridges, but that seems to be getting less 
common.

> Furthermore, right now you're accessing the internet without
> any form of protection anyway.  If you're with dial-up, that
> means you're connected directly to the internet.  And don't
> forget this is Linux, not Windows.
>
> Even without a firewall, remote break-in is highly improbable,
> especially since you're not running any Apache or MySQL
> servers on your machine (at least I assume you don't.)

That's what I thought back when I was using dialup on a Linux
box that didn't have any servers running.  Then one day I got
root-kitted.

IMO, safely attaching a Linux machine directly to the Internet
takes a fair bit of skill and lot of diligence.  Safely
attaching a Windows machine directly to the Internet is at
least an order of magnitude more difficult.

-- 
Grant