Hi Peter,
From: Peter Evans [mailto:peter@despammed.com] [Look, I'm a newbie, OK?]
It's OK :-) [snip]
but I find something aesthetically (?) displeasing about "executable" text files.
Me too.
Well, I've started by going to /home and, since I'm "peter", typing
chmod 700 peter
Well, if you don't have any executeables in your $HOME then you can type find $HOME -type d -exec chmod 0700 {} \; find $HOME -type f -exec chmod 0600 {} \; The first command sets all directories (type d) to 0700, the second one sets all files (type f) to 0600. Keep in mind that executeables in your $HOME won't be executeable any more!
Is that enough? (I doubt it.) If not, what's the recommended procedure?
(I do realize that there are many other major security considerations as well, but I'm not asking for a potted guide to Linux security. For now, just permissions.)
I recommend you'll read http://www.linuxsecurity.com/docs/LDP/Security-HOWTO/ - it is a good introduction on general linux security. cheers, Stefan