Graphical Firewalls

Security

Graphical Firewalls

With some graphical firewalls you don't have the same amount of control as you do using Iptables. If you are not familiar with Iptables, consider it first.

If you have decided you want to have a graphical firewall, you can. If you are not familiar with them, good ones to begin with are Gufw or Guarddog. There are several others. You may try various ones to see which you prefer. Some give you greater control than others.

These firewalls use a graphical interface to set up Iptables. You are actually still using Iptables, just through another interface.

Some Linux distributions include a graphical firewall on the installation CD or DVD, so it can be installed and set up before connecting to the internet.

Temporary Firewall

Some graphical firewalls need to be downloaded and installed from the internet. If you connect to the internet without a firewall, your computer may be vulnerable. This can be overcome by setting up a simple Iptables firewall to use until the graphical firewall is working.

To do this, copy all the following and paste it to the Root Terminal.

iptables -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --sport 80 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p udp --sport 53 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -j DROP

When the root terminal has finished processing this, press "Enter."

You now have a temporary firewall, which can be used while downloading and installing a graphical firewall. This temporary firewall not work after you turn off the computer and restart it, unless you set it up again. This firewall will also be replaced when you start using a graphical firewall.

Download and Install a Firewall

You can now connect to the internet, and download and install a graphical firewall.

Set Up the Firewall

You usually need root or administrator access to set up the firewall.

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