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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Firewalls: what SHOULD I block? (lemmy.wtf)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hey there folks,

I'm trying to figure out how to configure my UFW, and I'm just not sure where to start. What can I do to see the intetnet traffic from individual apps so I can know what I might want to block? This is just my personal computer and I'm a total newbie to configuring firewalls so I'm just not sure how to go about it. Most online guides seem to assume one already knows what they want to block but I don't even know how/where to monitor local traffic to figure out what I can/should consider blocking.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

A firewall by default blocks everything coming from outside going in (without being requested).
Firewalls can also block traffic going out from your PC to the internet. In a company where you need to protect against data exfiltration by employees, and as a last resort safeguard against malware communicating with outside servers, you want that. In that case, a security expert makes a detailed plan of all installed software, to determine what needs to connect from which internal IP to which external IP over which port. Then all other outbound traffic is blocked. This needs to be adjusted constantly, every time a new software is installed or an update changes a software's requirements. It's a full-time job.

On a home PC running Linux, that's absolute overkill. There are no untrusted users in your home and you're probably not the target for a directed attack by skilled actors. So just leave ufw on default, which blocks all inbound traffic and allows all outbound.