this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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Hi. I wanted to know if it's needed to install a firewall on a linux desktop/laptop. Why yes or why no?

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[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Keep in mind that a firewall may not be nessasary if you don't have any network services running.

[–] ReversalHatchery@beehaw.org 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Yes, except that whether you do is not at all obvious.

Do you use KDE Connect? If yes, you run a network service. Syncthing, a bittorrent client? Those too, and many others. I know this is a Linux community, but as a comparison windows has a bunch of network services running by default.
By saying "network services", I think menu of us would just think about a web server or a file server, conclude that they don't run any of those, and don't bother with it.

When in doubt, sudo netstat -lutpn, and look for the listening ports to see what software listens for informing requests.

[–] jcarax@beehaw.org 2 points 11 months ago

I'd still have one, eventually something is going to slip past a new configuration or dependency that listens.