[SOLVED] Using the default user

[Grahm]

Can we use the default account which is an admin account for our regular activities on Kubuntu ? Or should we create a non-admin account and use it for browsing, torrents, samba share etc. Thanks.

[sithlord48]

Yes Yes you can

[Grahm]

Thanks. I meant from the security point of view. What if someone has our IP, can they see our admin user name when we accept cookies or visit websites ? Will it be possible to get into our PC ?

Also, what will happen when someone tries to brute force our PC from outside ?

[sithlord48]

well brute forcing involved trying to guess a valid user name / password so they would attempt to find an open service. and try to log in over and over.. But there has to be an exposed service for this to work.

So what services do u plan to use?

[Grahm]

I wanted to seed the Libre Office torrent. But was afraid to do so. When we use torrent, won't they will get our IP ? Do they get to know our user name as well ? At that point isn't it just a case of trying brute force on that IP to get inside ? What defense 20.04 Kubuntu will have in such a scenario ?

I have the same doubt for normal browsing activities. Thanks for taking time to help me out.

[TWPonKubuntu]

Grahm, you could look at using a VPN on your system. It might (Might, perhaps, maybe) provide more security for your IP address.

[Snowhog]

Unless one has established a Point of Presence for their connection to the Internet, "your" PC's IP address isn't 'forward facing'; outsiders can't see it. The IP address that outsiders can see is the one that your ISP issues to you when you connect to the Internet. And that IP address resolves to the ISP itself as the end point; your personal IP address is again, not visible to the outside world.

[Grahm]

@TWPonKubuntu

Thanks. If there is a threat as we are discussing, I think there will be no other option. Kindly confirm that scenario. It is only my doubt at the moment.

[Grahm]

Unless one has established a Point of Presence for their connection to the Internet, "your" PC's IP address isn't 'forward facing'; outsiders can't see it. The IP address that outsiders can see is the one that your ISP issues to you when you connect to the Internet. And that IP address resolves to the ISP itself as the end point; your personal IP address is again, not visible to the outside world.

Awesome. Thanks.

Just to confirm. It is safe to use admin account for normal PC activities, including torrents ? I mean, if we use non admin account, somehow if they found out our user name, they will still have restricted access.

Personally I would like to use my admin account for the ease of use. Just a bit worried on how safe it is.

[Don B. Cilly]

Your IP address is available to anything you connect to - unless you use a VPN, TOR, and the like.
Opera has built-in VPN, Brave built-in TOR (in private browsing). They have advantages and disadvantages.
With KTorrent, you can actually set it to hide it (give a fake one) - although I'm a bit sceptical it would actually work (I mean if someone/something wanted to know it).

About the user... your "normal" user has admin privileges... with an admin password, right?
You don't log in as root, do you?
So if you add a user, it would have basically the same privileges -over its own account - unless you purposefully restrict them.
Still, to the best of my knowledge, you browser gives a lot of information away, but your logged-in username isn't among them.

[Snowhog]

I would like to use my admin account for the ease of use.

First, when you boot/log in to Kubuntu, you are not logging in to an Administrative user account; *buntu has the Root user account disabled by default. As the user who installed Kubuntu, your user is a member of the admin usergroup. This means that when admin privileges are needed, you are prompted for your password. Otherwise, your user is just that, a normal user.

[Grahm]

@DonBSilly @Snowhog and other participants

Thank you. I am glad I cleared the doubt. :happy:

[Don B. Cilly]

Still, if that "browser leaks" page hasn't got you paranoid enough... see this post about iftop

[Grahm]

@DonBCilly

I have run forums and blogs. That is one reason I was paranoid about the user name. Google Analytics will almost tell you what your visitor had for lunch. I was told that our router has a firewall. But I don't know how hard is to break it. Another info I banked on is that Ubuntu has a firewall. Someone said it is good if you leave it as default ( which is off ? ). When using torrents, I could see the list of participating IPs. That got me scared a bit.

[Schwarzer Kater]

For additional network protection:
*ubuntu comes with ufw ("uncomplicated firewall") preinstalled, but it is turned off by default. One can use Konsole in Kubuntu to turn it on and administer it.
If one does not like to use the terminal: there is an additional GUI for ufw called Gufw in the *ubuntu repositories (sudo apt install gufw).

Additional protection for your web browser:
One could install add-ons for that, e.g. a combination of a script-blocker (like NoScript for Firefox) and an ad- and tracking-blocker.