Hi. I wanted to know if it's needed to install a firewall on a linux desktop/laptop. Why yes or why no?

  • bushvin@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Do you need a lock on the door of your place?

    No, but it’s a damn good idea to protect whatever is in it.

    • FuzzChef@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      That's a bad comparison. Without a lock you can just open the door from the outside.

        • LufyCZ@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          It's not.

          If you have a house, it has a door which you can use to access everything inside.

          If you have a linux install with no services running on it, it has no doors, and thus doesn't need any door locks. And if it does have services running on there (which run publicly), it now has doors, sure, but getting one of those doors open doesn't guarantee access to the whole house - usually it's gonna be an empty room

          • Jagger2097@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Linux with no services? That's not a usable system for anyone who would ask "do I need a firewall"

            Systemd is a service that runs logind. What are you doing without them?

            • rwhitisissle@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              I think by services they mean self-hosted, web-based services, or things like sshd - services which work by actively serving connections on a particular port or ports.

              • vector_zero@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                And even then, a properly configured SSHD instance wouldn't really benefit from a firewall, unless you wanted to block all countries besides your own or something.