What is the Best Firewall for Ubuntu? UFW or Firestarter?
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To tell the truth, UFW and Firestarter are not firewalls! They are only the interfaces used to configure the default firewall that comes in Linux! Yesterday, I did some research about these two and found out an interesting fact! Actually, this one fact will help you to choose what is the best!
Yesterday I re-formated my system and installed Ubuntu 9.10! Then as usual, I tried to install Firestarter… but then, I thought of finding whether its good enough for me! Actually, Ubuntu comes with UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) already installed, so I thought of comparing these two.
So, the first thing that I got to know is that, they are not firewalls, they are only interfaces to configure the default firewall in Ubuntu. The default firewall of Linux is called “iptables” (Which is also used in Ubuntu).
The second and the most important fact that I found was that Firestarter was abounded by their developers! No more updates to Firestarter! So, to check this fact I went to sourceforge.net and found out that Firestarter was not updates since 2005! The last update was released on 2005-01-30!
Firestarter release date
Normally, when it comes to security software, we need to update the software as much as we can to make sure that we are protected from the latest threats. But we can say that firwalls have no virus definitions and Firestarter is only an interface for a firewall… but, even a normal software gets updates at least once a year. But, this software was untouched for almost 5 years! I think you understand why we should not use Firestarter to protect our systems!
If Firestarter is dead. then the next option is UFW (last release : 2010-01-29)! You don’t have to install this on your system because its already installed! To activate it you can issue the following command in the terminal (Applications > Accessories> Terminal) :
sudo ufw enable
For normal users, it might be difficult to manage the firwall from the command line! Not to worry, this is where GUFW comes to the picture! GUFW is the graphical user interface for UFW. To install it issue the following command in the terminal :
sudo apt-get install gufw
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Author: Pubudu Kodikara (254 Articles)
Pubudu Kodikara is a writer at Tech Hamlet (www.techhamlet.com), a state of the art tech blog which is powered by the Earth Organization, which have a main target of educating people about the latest technology. They post latest tech news, tips on how to resolve problems, tricks and hacks to improve what you do, tutorials to learn new things and many more.
Blog Post: What is the Best Firewall for Ubuntu? UFW or Firestarter? http://bit.ly/9Ey44c
Blog Post: What is the Best Firewall for Ubuntu? UFW or Firestarter? http://bit.ly/9Ey44c
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Hi there!
If you give some little effort, you will exactly win the Contest on my blog :) Best of luck!
Regards,
Anup kayastha
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Hehe… thanks bro… i also have to say the same thing about the contest at techhamlet.com :D
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I saw somewhere on the ubuntu forums that firestarter was kinda intermediate, whereas ufw you just turn on and occasionally open or close a port when you feel like it.
Firestarter will also do the same bro! :D
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why u givin more importance to ubuntu?
jasir javaz´s last blog ..Watch Oscars Live Video Stream – eNewsz is live
:D good question :
1) Ubuntu is the most used, most user-friendly linux version :D
2) I mostly use linux :D
Bro, don’t worry… currently im testing some other versions too… so will write about them soon :D
Pubudu Kodikara´s last blog ..All Twitter Users Be-Aware! Your Account Might be Hacked!
k.. i used it 3 yrs b4. But dnt like it at that time. SO now in windows only
:D… then you’ll use windows for 3 more years and go back to linux! :D trust me… thats how the human mind works :D… anyway.. because you asked this… now i started to write about other linux versions too! Check my latest post :D
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ok sure brther.. Now a days i am a recent visitor in urs, sudarsan’s nd all others site. keep posting gud articles in diffrnt categories.
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Hehe…. thanks mate :D
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We have 2 computers connected by a crossover cable, which are both connected to a able modem. We are planning on buying a laptop soon, so we want to go wireless. We really need to beef up our firewall. What equipment should we buy to implement a hardware firewall?
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Bro i don’t know about hardware firewalls :D but its good for big companies…
There are also software based firewalls like smoothwall … which can be used instead of hardware firewalls!
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What is your preference? UFW or Firestarter?
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UFW bro… Firestarter seems to be dead :D
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no doubt that ubuntu is most user friendly Linux distro and UFW and firestarter does the same job
:D your right mate :D UFW+GUFW :D
Pubudu Kodikara´s last blog ..TechHamlet Forums :Latest Forum Topics (9th of March 2010)
You don’t need an antivirus software for Ubuntu. Optionally you can install ClamAV, it works under Linux, it scans your Windows executables for viruses (just to know if your Windows applications are infected or not).
Hehe… don’t say like that bro… in the future you’ll need one! Ubuntu also have viruses but not much as windows! so we need to be careful! and this is not an anti virus.. this is a firewall!
If you keep a recent post in your sidebar, it would be great.
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Thanks for the suggestion bro…! i’ll see to that soon :D
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Why so many exclamation marks? Freaks me out.