Introduction Linux has a well deserved reputation for being a very secure operating system. For instance, if you have gone for more than 3 months without applying any software updates to your system, you are a prime suspect for attack. Let me know if you find any mistakes, or want to offer any other advice I can put in this paper. If you have a Road Runner cable modem, your computer has been port scanned by the script-kiddies. That means they know what kind of operating system you are running, what version it is, what services you have enabled, what file shares you have, and what vulnerabilities exist.
Port scanning is easy and effective.
Most Road Runner users leave their PC's on 24-7 and rarely does the IP address on these machines change. Once a hole in your system is found, a cracker can exploit you over and over again and use your computer as a jump point to cover his tracks while exploiting yet other computers. The Basics Everyone should know the basics. I'm assuming if you are interested in Linux, you probably are a sophisticated user already. Use a tough password, one that does not appear in any dictionary, is at least 8 characters long, and has mixed case, numbers, special characters, or all three.