[wplug] Any Suggestion for DSL Service for Linux?

[Richard A. Bilonick]

jmh3 at linuxfreak.com wrote:

> > John,
> >
> > If they used my machine to relay mail, does that mean they've broken into the
> > system?
> no. it is my understanging that  by default sendmail will recieve email
> to be sent from anyone. it is up to the admin to configure it so it only
> accepts it from certain hosts. this is based on my expirences with linux
> distros like redhat. configuring sendmail is _not_ a trivial task to say
> the least.
>
> the profs here with sgi boxes get hacked pretty frequently. i suggested
> that you sign up to the list so that you would be notified of any security
> advisories. i'm not trying to make you paranoid, but sgi's are less
> common than linux machines. because of this you are not likely to hear
> about issues concerning security on irix in a public forum like the  wplug
> list.
>
> >
> > Rick Bilonick
> >
> > jmh3 at linuxfreak.com wrote:
> >
> > > On Mon, 15 Jan 2001, Richard A. Bilonick wrote:
> > >
> > > > I've had @Home for 2 or 3 years now and had beenr reasonably happy. That is,
> > > > until I received an e-mail from them accusing me of running a mail server and
> > > > sending span. They said someone complained that I was sending them spam. I sent
> > > > them an e-mail asking who made this claim. So far I've haven't heard back from
> > > > them (it's been over 1 week). As far as I can tell, I don't have a mail server
> > > > running on my computer and I know I'm not spamming anyone.
> > >
> > > if you are running sendmail, it is possible for your computer to be used
> > > as a mail relay. this would enable people to send spam from your computer,
> > > and it would appear that the spam was coming from you. a simple port scan
> > > of your subnet would tell a would be spammer which ip's had mail
> > > servers. by default redhat/mandrake come with sendmail turned on. you
> > > could SAINT to scan your computer and tell you what services are running.
> > >

What I would like to do is build an "inexpensive" Linux box and use it for a firewall.
(It would also get me access to more software.)

Rick