Linux quick tip

Here's a neat tip I read about in the January 2009 Issue 177 of Linux Journal.

Using netstat with the -tpe flags to monitor programs that are making connections to remote hosts.

-t limits output to TCP connections
-p displays the PID and name of the program
-e displays extra information

Sample:
# netstat -tpe
Active Internet connections (w/o servers)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State User Inode PID/Program name
tcp 0 180 10.10.10.9:ssh 10.10.10.8:exlm-agent ESTABLISHED root 11831 2811/sshd: kpb [pri
tcp 0 0 10.10.10.9:39383 yx-in-f104.google.com:http ESTABLISHED kpb 13586 3023/elinks
tcp 0 0 10.10.10.9:49349 cg-in-f100.google.com:http ESTABLISHED kpb 13577 3023/elinks

Major security flaw in Internet Explorer !!

I just came across this article on Yahoo!Tech:
Major flaw revealed in Internet Explorer; users urged to switch

Security experts are recommending that users switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Safari as they are not affected.

This vulnerability affects Internet Explorer version 5 though 8 beta.

More information here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7784908.stm

CompTIA Security+ exam

I am getting ready to take my Security+ exam within the next month or so, and wanted to get some input from people who have taken it.

What did you do to prepare?
How was your testing experience?
What should I expect?

I have been going though the book and practice exams I purchased from PrepLogic.

Thanks in advance for your comments!

Firestarter Firewall

Firestarter is a easy to use firewall program with a GUI interface great for a personal, or business use. I currently use it on all my Fedora machines.

It is supported by both 2.4 and 2.6 Linux Kernels, and is available for Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, Debian, Gentoo, source tarball, and source RPM
The latest stable version is 1.0.3, but you can download older versions from Sourceforge.
Download Firestarter

Management is very user friendly and can be done though the GUI or via the shell.
You can use it for internet connection sharing, controlling inbound and outbound connections, create whitelists and blacklist access policies, view traffic in real-time, and active connections, and see connections that have been blocked by the firewall.
Another great feature of Firestarter is that it can be used as a DHCP server.

Over all I think this firewall is great for the user that is new to Linux and firewalls, but its even suitable for the Linux pro! :)

Feel free to leave me your comments.

For more information see the Firestarter website:
http://www.fs-security.com/

linux, firewall, network security