whether you can trust a particular Web site, (Web page design)
whether you can trust a particular Web site, do some research and perhapsask others for their opinions. Chapter 12 details how to keep your distribution and its software up to date. Please, please, please, do so! After all, as the person in charge, your job is tomake sure that this computer stays intruder-free. In addition to making surethat you do all the same things a user would do for both your user accountsand the superuser (root) account, no matter which Linux distribution you rerunning, you must keep up-to-date with security problems. Network holesOn a Linux server or workstation or any computer at all, using any operat- ing system you should not have any network services running that youdon t intend to use. Think of each network program running as a glasswindow or sliding glass door in your house. Each network service is a weakspot, and many nasty folks are out there on the Internet who like to go up toall the houses and make note of how many windows and glass are on them, what kinds they are, and how easy they are to breach. Controlling your servicesThe more flexible your distribution as far as its ability to run desktops andmany types of servers the more services it may have running in the back- ground by default. To open the network service management program foryour distribution: Fedora:Choose Applications.System Settings.Server Settings. Services (see Figure 13-1). Knoppix:From the main menu, choose KNOPPIX.Services. There is nocentral service control unit, but because this distribution is designed asa desktop, few services are available. This menu contains each serviceyou have access to. Linspire: There is no central service configuration point, but this distri- bution is designed to be purely desktop, so there is little to do hereanyway. Mandrake:From the main menu, choose System.Configuration. Configure Your Computer.System.Services. SuSE:From the main menu, choose System.YaST.Network Services. There is no central service control unit, but in this section, you canselect each service individually to see whether it s on and find out moreabout it. If you re asked to install software when selecting a service, sayno if you don t intend to use it! Clicking Cancel does the trick. Xandros:Choose Launch.Control Center.System Administration. Services. There are few services here to deal with, however, because thissystem is designed strictly as a desktop. 265Chapter 13: A Secure Linux Box Is a Happy Linux Box19_