In Linux Mint
Kernel: 5.4.0-67-generic x86_64 bits: 64
Desktop: Cinnamon 4.0.10 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa

On Mon, 31 May 2021 17:30:11 -0400
Nic <nic@nic.net> wrote:

> In Linux Mint
> Kernel: 5.4.0-67-generic x86_64 bits: 64
> Desktop: Cinnamon 4.0.10 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa
>
>

I used Douane personal firewall a few years ago, and it worked fine.
It seems they are having trouble with it now.

Douane personal firewall for GNU/Linux
https://douaneapp.com/

You can type ss -a in a terminal to see what connections are
established.

Type man ss in a terminal for other options.

On Mon, 31 May 2021 16:52:03 -0500
Johnny <johnny@invalid.net> wrote:

> On Mon, 31 May 2021 17:30:11 -0400
> Nic <nic@nic.net> wrote:
>
> > In Linux Mint
> > Kernel: 5.4.0-67-generic x86_64 bits: 64
> > Desktop: Cinnamon 4.0.10 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa
> >
> >
>
> I used Douane personal firewall a few years ago, and it worked fine.
> It seems they are having trouble with it now.
>
> Douane personal firewall for GNU/Linux
> https://douaneapp.com/
>
> You can type ss -a in a terminal to see what connections are
> established.
>
> Type man ss in a terminal for other options.
>

Douane does not show up in my software manager, what is installed by
default is GFW-UncomplecatedFirewall, I played with it for a short time
and it seems to work, but not in the way I want to to use it.

Nic wrote:
> Question: Is there a way to be informed when a program is trying to connect to the internet?

Which program?

--
Mike Easter

Mike Easter wrote:

> Nic wrote:
>> Question: Is there a way to be informed when a program is trying to
>> connect to the internet?
>
> Which program?
>
Lets start with the easy ones, active browsers, active email clients,
then the dormant browsers, email clients and then all the other
programs that have found a place on my system.

Nic wrote:
> Mike Easter wrote:
>
>> Nic wrote:
>>> Question: Is there a way to be informed when a program is trying to
>>> connect to the internet?
>>
>> Which program?
>>
> Lets start with the easy ones, active browsers, active email clients,
> then the dormant browsers, email clients and then all the other
> programs that have found a place on my system.
>
That would drive you crazy; too much activity. You couldn't do
anything; you know all of those programs are going to be trying to
access the internet. I don't get where you are going w/ your 'idea'/notion.

--
Mike Easter

Mike Easter wrote:

> Nic wrote:
>> Mike Easter wrote:
>>
>>> Nic wrote:
>>>> Question: Is there a way to be informed when a program is
trying to
>>>> connect to the internet?
>>>
>>> Which program?
>>>
>> Lets start with the easy ones, active browsers, active email
clients,
>> then the dormant browsers, email clients and then all the other
>> programs that have found a place on my system.
>>
> That would drive you crazy; too much activity. You couldn't do
> anything; you know all of those programs are going to be trying to
> access the internet. I don't get where you are going w/ your
> 'idea'/notion.
>
My notion is to get control of my machine to be able to instruct it
to reveal what I want it to, after all since privacy is now very
difficult, and most machines have been developed to share the users.
Think of it, being able to talk about your worst nightmares, and
possibly find kindred spirits enmeshed in the digital fibers for in
the very heart of the machine is some human heart beating

On Mon, 31 May 2021 19:37:13 -0400, Nic <Nic@none.net> wrote:

>Mike Easter wrote:
>
>> Nic wrote:
>>> Mike Easter wrote:
>>>
>>>> Nic wrote:
>>>>> Question: Is there a way to be informed when a program is
>trying to
>>>>> connect to the internet?
>>>>
>>>> Which program?
>>>>
>>> Lets start with the easy ones, active browsers, active email
>clients,
>>> then the dormant browsers, email clients and then all the other
>>> programs that have found a place on my system.
>>>
>> That would drive you crazy; too much activity. You couldn't do
>> anything; you know all of those programs are going to be trying to
>> access the internet. I don't get where you are going w/ your
>> 'idea'/notion.
>>
>My notion is to get control of my machine to be able to instruct it
>to reveal what I want it to, after all since privacy is now very
>difficult, and most machines have been developed to share the users.
>Think of it, being able to talk about your worst nightmares, and
>possibly find kindred spirits enmeshed in the digital fibers for in
>the very heart of the machine is some human heart beating

Try using the Linux System Monitor which can show Internet usage on a
real time basis for preliminary information.
--
Cheers,

John B.

Install etherape and run it as root and you'll be horrified at how
many computers are connected to your computer; sending and recieving
gawd knows what. When I just open Firefox, with no page loaded, I can
see all the connections to the Google universe. I tried to use
wireshark to capture some packets and discover what information I was
sending out, but I don't know that much about it.

If your serious about security and control you could install pfsense
on an old computer. Just being able to GeoIP block China and Russia
will stop 75% of bad actors. There are block lists of thousands of
dangerous IP address's that get automatically updated every few hours.
You can run a VPN client on the pfsense box so everything downstream
will have to use the VPN to get connected.

pfsense has a STEEP learning curve. It's like learning a new OS; but I
wouldn't feel secure without it now.

I would only bank and shop online with Kicksecure (from the Whonix
developers):
https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Kicksecure
in a vitual OS that I don't use for anything else.

>On Mon, 31 May 2021 17:30:11 -0400, Nic <nic@nic.net> wrote:

>In Linux Mint
>Kernel: 5.4.0-67-generic x86_64 bits: 64
> Desktop: Cinnamon 4.0.10 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa
>

Why not disconnect your Internet access when you do not want a program
to connect to the Internet? Nothing to download, nothing to learn, just
plain simple.

On 6/1/21 12:34 AM, azigni wrote:
> Why not disconnect your Internet access when you do not want a program
> to connect to the Internet? Nothing to download, nothing to learn,
> just plain simple.

I use that technique, especially when doing maintenance or when I am
going to be away from the machine for an extended period of time, its
the time when I use the internet  that I am concerned, it would be naive
to think that by merely using a browser that  is the only thing going on.

On 5/31/21 8:10 PM, John B. wrote:
> On Mon, 31 May 2021 19:37:13 -0400, Nic <Nic@none.net> wrote:
>
>> Mike Easter wrote:
>>
>>> Nic wrote:
>>>> Mike Easter wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Nic wrote:
>>>>>> Question: Is there a way to be informed when a program is
>> trying to
>>>>>> connect to the internet?
>>>>> Which program?
>>>>>
>>>> Lets start with the easy ones, active browsers, active email
>> clients,
>>>> then the dormant browsers, email clients and then all the other
>>>> programs that have found a place on my system.
>>>>
>>> That would drive you crazy; too much activity. You couldn't do
>>> anything; you know all of those programs are going to be trying to
>>> access the internet. I don't get where you are going w/ your
>>> 'idea'/notion.
>>>
>> My notion is to get control of my machine to be able to instruct it
>> to reveal what I want it to, after all since privacy is now very
>> difficult, and most machines have been developed to share the users.
>> Think of it, being able to talk about your worst nightmares, and
>> possibly find kindred spirits enmeshed in the digital fibers for in
>> the very heart of the machine is some human heart beating
>
> Try using the Linux System Monitor which can show Internet usage on a
> real time basis for preliminary information.

Yes I have but the monitor only shows data activity but not content, I
can see 156 bytes sending or 156 bytes receiving, but a good packet
sniffer would show the contents of those bytes and a firewall would have
control over who is doing this, this way I could whitelist or blacklist
certain processes.

On 5/31/21 11:00 PM, buzz wrote:
> Install etherape and run it as root and you'll be horrified at how
> many computers are connected to your computer; sending and recieving
> gawd knows what. When I just open Firefox, with no page loaded, I can
> see all the connections to the Google universe. I tried to use
> wireshark to capture some packets and discover what information I was
> sending out, but I don't know that much about it.
>
> If your serious about security and control you could install pfsense
> on an old computer. Just being able to GeoIP block China and Russia
> will stop 75% of bad actors. There are block lists of thousands of
> dangerous IP address's that get automatically updated every few hours.
> You can run a VPN client on the pfsense box so everything downstream
> will have to use the VPN to get connected.
>
> pfsense has a STEEP learning curve. It's like learning a new OS; but I
> wouldn't feel secure without it now.
>
> I would only bank and shop online with Kicksecure (from the Whonix
> developers):
> https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Kicksecure
> in a vitual OS that I don't use for anything else.
>
>> On Mon, 31 May 2021 17:30:11 -0400, Nic <nic@nic.net> wrote:
>> In Linux Mint
>> Kernel: 5.4.0-67-generic x86_64 bits: 64
>> Desktop: Cinnamon 4.0.10 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa
>>
I already have installed Etherape and it launches but say's I do not
have permission to capture and I cannot figure out how to get
permission, when I examine the properties of the binary file for
etherape it says that it has root permission. As for pfsense, it is not
in my software manager.

On 5/31/21 11:00 PM, buzz wrote:
> Install etherape and run it as root and you'll be horrified at how
> many computers are connected to your computer; sending and recieving
> gawd knows what. When I just open Firefox, with no page loaded, I can
> see all the connections to the Google universe. I tried to use
> wireshark to capture some packets and discover what information I was
> sending out, but I don't know that much about it.
>
> If your serious about security and control you could install pfsense
> on an old computer. Just being able to GeoIP block China and Russia
> will stop 75% of bad actors. There are block lists of thousands of
> dangerous IP address's that get automatically updated every few hours.
> You can run a VPN client on the pfsense box so everything downstream
> will have to use the VPN to get connected.
>
> pfsense has a STEEP learning curve. It's like learning a new OS; but I
> wouldn't feel secure without it now.
>
> I would only bank and shop online with Kicksecure (from the Whonix
> developers):
> https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Kicksecure
> in a vitual OS that I don't use for anything else.
>
>> On Mon, 31 May 2021 17:30:11 -0400, Nic <nic@nic.net> wrote:
>> In Linux Mint
>> Kernel: 5.4.0-67-generic x86_64 bits: 64
>> Desktop: Cinnamon 4.0.10 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa
>>
Disregard my previous post, I launched etherape in the terminal via
command line at it works.

On 5/31/21 11:00 PM, buzz wrote:
> Install etherape and run it as root and you'll be horrified at how
> many computers are connected to your computer; sending and recieving
> gawd knows what. When I just open Firefox, with no page loaded, I can
> see all the connections to the Google universe. I tried to use
> wireshark to capture some packets and discover what information I was
> sending out, but I don't know that much about it.
>
> If your serious about security and control you could install pfsense
> on an old computer. Just being able to GeoIP block China and Russia
> will stop 75% of bad actors. There are block lists of thousands of
> dangerous IP address's that get automatically updated every few hours.
> You can run a VPN client on the pfsense box so everything downstream
> will have to use the VPN to get connected.
>
> pfsense has a STEEP learning curve. It's like learning a new OS; but I
> wouldn't feel secure without it now.
>
> I would only bank and shop online with Kicksecure (from the Whonix
> developers):
> https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Kicksecure
> in a vitual OS that I don't use for anything else.
>
>> On Mon, 31 May 2021 17:30:11 -0400, Nic <nic@nic.net> wrote:
>> In Linux Mint
>> Kernel: 5.4.0-67-generic x86_64 bits: 64
>> Desktop: Cinnamon 4.0.10 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa
>>
after trying out etherape I decided that wireshark was more like what I
was looking for, as for kicksecure, I d/l the .ova file and will give it
a try after a full metal to metal backup of my hard drive. I am
wondering if I can have more than 1 virtual machine installed under
Mint. The one vm I have installed is primarily used to run a w7 os. I
think that I could load the kicksecure.ova file in the vm that I use for
w7 but do you think that I could setup another vm dedicated to
kicksecure? I also d/l pfsense for dvd installer, could not get the
memstick version to d/l, your words terrify me steeeeep learning curve,
Thanks for your info, you have given me a lot to work with.

On Tue, 1 Jun 2021 06:55:13 -0400, TheSidhe <nic@none.net> wrote:

>On 5/31/21 11:00 PM, buzz wrote:
>> Install etherape and run it as root and you'll be horrified at how
>> many computers are connected to your computer; sending and recieving
>> gawd knows what. When I just open Firefox, with no page loaded, I can
>> see all the connections to the Google universe. I tried to use
>> wireshark to capture some packets and discover what information I was
>> sending out, but I don't know that much about it.
>>
>> If your serious about security and control you could install pfsense
>> on an old computer. Just being able to GeoIP block China and Russia
>> will stop 75% of bad actors. There are block lists of thousands of
>> dangerous IP address's that get automatically updated every few hours.
>> You can run a VPN client on the pfsense box so everything downstream
>> will have to use the VPN to get connected.
>>
>> pfsense has a STEEP learning curve. It's like learning a new OS; but I
>> wouldn't feel secure without it now.
>>
>> I would only bank and shop online with Kicksecure (from the Whonix
>> developers):
>> https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Kicksecure
>> in a vitual OS that I don't use for anything else.
>>
>>> On Mon, 31 May 2021 17:30:11 -0400, Nic <nic@nic.net> wrote:
>>> In Linux Mint
>>> Kernel: 5.4.0-67-generic x86_64 bits: 64
>>> Desktop: Cinnamon 4.0.10 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa
>>>
>I already have installed Etherape and it launches but say's I do not
>have permission to capture and I cannot figure out how to get
>permission, when I examine the properties of the binary file for
>etherape it says that it has root permission. As for pfsense, it is not
>in my software manager.

Launch etherape from the command line as root, i.e. sudo etherape
--
Cheers,

John B.

On 6/1/21 6:47 PM, John B. wrote:
> On Tue, 1 Jun 2021 06:55:13 -0400, TheSidhe <nic@none.net> wrote:
>
>> On 5/31/21 11:00 PM, buzz wrote:
>>> Install etherape and run it as root and you'll be horrified at how
>>> many computers are connected to your computer; sending and recieving
>>> gawd knows what. When I just open Firefox, with no page loaded, I can
>>> see all the connections to the Google universe. I tried to use
>>> wireshark to capture some packets and discover what information I was
>>> sending out, but I don't know that much about it.
>>>
>>> If your serious about security and control you could install pfsense
>>> on an old computer. Just being able to GeoIP block China and Russia
>>> will stop 75% of bad actors. There are block lists of thousands of
>>> dangerous IP address's that get automatically updated every few hours.
>>> You can run a VPN client on the pfsense box so everything downstream
>>> will have to use the VPN to get connected.
>>>
>>> pfsense has a STEEP learning curve. It's like learning a new OS; but I
>>> wouldn't feel secure without it now.
>>>
>>> I would only bank and shop online with Kicksecure (from the Whonix
>>> developers):
>>> https://www.whonix.org/wiki/Kicksecure
>>> in a vitual OS that I don't use for anything else.
>>>
>>>> On Mon, 31 May 2021 17:30:11 -0400, Nic <nic@nic.net> wrote:
>>>> In Linux Mint
>>>> Kernel: 5.4.0-67-generic x86_64 bits: 64
>>>> Desktop: Cinnamon 4.0.10 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa
>>>>
>> I already have installed Etherape and it launches but say's I do not
>> have permission to capture and I cannot figure out how to get
>> permission, when I examine the properties of the binary file for
>> etherape it says that it has root permission. As for pfsense, it is not
>> in my software manager.
> Launch etherape from the command line as root, i.e. sudo etherape

Thank you