96
Do you need to have a firewall on a linux desktop?
(discuss.tchncs.de)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
96 points (100.0% liked)
Linux
48248 readers
448 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
It’s also comically useless to have a desktop firewall application installed when you’re already behind some sort of firewall solution like a router not forwarding most incoming traffic.
It depends. Sure, maybe somewhat redundant for a home desktop that just stays at home on a network you control, but for a laptop it is absolutely essential.
You may also want a firewall to defend against other devices within your local network. Let's say you have IoT devices, many of which are poorly secured and maintained by their manufacturers, or you live with family members or guests who don't practice or even know about proper computing hygiene and are bringing in devices onto your local WiFi.
My IoT devices already have a dedicated network and guest can use my guest WiFi. But yes, you’re right. It depends. And especially for mobile devices some sort of local firewall solution could be relevant. If there are no ports exposed to the LAN you’re pretty save, though.
No you aren't, browser based malware puts the attacker inside your fancy network. A basic firewall will greatly hinder any attack at basically no cost to you.
There's incoming and then there's outgoing traffic. Software firewalls can forbid processes that may be advertised as "offline only" from reaching out; typically a hardware firewall doesn't care about this kind of thing.
Some people like hosting some servers on their desktop as well, and doesn't want others on their local network to access them. With firewalls, you can allow specific IP address to reach those servers.
That's fine right up until something on your network, even the ISP modem-firewall-router-switch itself, gets compromised.