On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 01:25:17 -0700 (MST)
"der.hans" <PLUGd@LuftHans.com> wrote:

> Am 13. Oct, 2004 schwätzte Siri Amrit Kaur so:
> 
> Very :).
> 
> There, are, however ways to limit exposure and thereby reduce the number
> of security patches necessary.
> 
> > I know I should perform security updates frequently, but I run into one
> > problem:
> > the SIZE of the updates.
> > I'm on a slow dialup modem.
> 
> Can you let it do downloads overnight? If so, can slackware handle
> interrupted downloads?
> 
> Let's say you can get 1/3 of the data you need in a night. You could then,
> over a period of 3 nights, get all the updates, then do the actual
> installation of the updates after than when it's convenient for you.

wget would be the obvious choice here.

> > I'm using Slackware 10 with the 2.4.26 kernel on a stand-alone box. I never
> > installed Apache, inetd, portmap, SSH or any other server apps that I know
> > of, and I have all unneeded services turned off. I just use it for internet
> 
> Make sure they aren't running. You probably have inetd installed, but you
> might have disabled it. Check also for a mail server.
> 
> ps auxw | less
> 	look for extraneous processes
> 	for instance, I usually uninstall the at daemon
> 
> lsof -i
> 	look for LISTEN for TCP ports and active UDP ports
> 
> There are other ways to check for running services.
> 
> Anyone know of a good, simple guide to monitoring tools that can be used
> from a box to see what might be running?

You can start with nmap localhost whic h will show you what services are listening on what ports.

[...]
> > I use slackpkg for updates, and have it set up to only download patches, not
> > everything. The last time I ran "slackpkg upgrade patches" it was a 135MB
> > download, not including kernel patches because I don't want to screw around
> > with the kernel. That's fine for broadband, but I never want to go through
> > that again!  It took days and I had to su to root to do it. Personally, I
> > never like to be online as root; that's a security risk in and of itself.
> 
> Can the d/l mechanism run as a normal user? I don't think it can for
> debian w/o some pain.

Of course, then just "su -" and run "upgrade some_package" to install.  This is how pkgtools works in Slackware.  Slackpack is probably similar.

> Are those patches all the updates or just the security updates? Ideally,
> in your situation, you just want the security updates.
> 
> > Given how conservatively I use my computer, how likely is it that I'll be
> > compromised and have my computer turned into a zombie or something if I don't
> > do updates anymore?
> 
> Well, random crack attempts from viruses, etc. generally don't care that
> you're only on a modem or that you think you're safe.
> 
> > I appreciate any opinions and advice, but no flames, please.
> 
> You'll be wishing for the flames soon enough as winter sets in and we
> start having to survive temperatures down into the 70s!  :)

hans, you're forgetting about global warming, in a few years we won't see temps below 100F! <g>

Dennisk
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