HowTo PeerGuardian for Linux an alternative to Linblock

[gsurbey]

There are many reasons to block access to and from certain IPs no matter if you are working from a corporate or home network this kind of internet blocking should be just as prevalent and suggested as basic firewall configurations are nowadays. IP blocking has many similar pros and cons as compared to the basic firewall configuration however it extends the safety net. Also, as with any firewall, IP blocking should not be looked upon as an all encompassing security solution. IP blocking could give you added protection from the MPAA, RIAA, adware, pop-ups sites, and government entities just to name a few and all this is customizable using specific blocking lists. www.bluetack.co.uk is a trusted organization to get IP blocking lists from. There are also ways to do IP blocking within an app such as mldonkey and many of the like. You can find block lists in that format on http://www2.openmedia.info:8080/p23.html. However in terms of centralization of block lists and in terms of much lower overall CPU usage using the linux kernels built in iptables is a much better option.

These two programs are GNU GPL and they both use Perl Net::IP and the linux kernel's iptables:
PeerGuardian for Linux
Linblock

You will need the Perl Net::IP class library installed, type the following to check if you have it:

[gsurbey]

I just found out that there is a Gentoo CPAN tool called g-cpan so instead of doing the line above:

[gsurbey]

The Internet Storm Center has an interesting top 20 ip block list http://isc.sans.org/
_________________
-Greg Surbey