Iproute2 (or Iproute) consists of a variety of utilities for controlling TCP / IP networking and traffic control in Linux. It is actively maintained and frequently updated, and now considered the preferred package for modern network technologies which includes important network tools such as ip and tc, used for IPv4 and IPv6 configuration and traffic control. It currently replaces the outdated Net-Tools package encompassing commands such as ifconfig, route, arp, etc, which are now known to be mostly inadequate as they provide limited features.

To give you an idea just how obsolete the Net-Tools package is, it should be noted the last verified update was back in April, 2001. A common view among many developers and users is that these former Net-Tools utilities should be deprecated, however, most Linux distros still include them as old habits are hard to break. It is suggested, now is the time to familiarize yourself with some of the most common commands of the newer, feature packed Iproute2 utilities package to be more current with the times.
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Well known is the use of Iptables (read here) with Linux as a secure and effective firewall for your network connections, to customize and regulate all incoming, forwarded, and outgoing network traffic, and as a router or gateway for an internal LAN (Local Area Network). In addition to these and many more functions, Iptables can also be used to mangle, modify or alter parameters within the IP Header of a given Network Packet when necessary. The packets can be mangled in the built-in chains of PREROUTING (altering incoming packets prior to routing), INPUT (for packets coming into the box itself), FORWARD (for altering packets being routed through the box), and OUTPUT (for altering locally-generated packets before routing) and POSTROUTING (for altering packets as they are about to go out).
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Swiss Army Knife of networking netcat is a versatile tool that is able to read and write data across TCP and UDP network . Combined with other tools and redirection it can be used in number of ways in your scripts. You will be surprised to see what you can accomplish with Linux netcat command.
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With growing number of computers on internet coupled with the ever increasing world of crackers (the so called bad guys of internet), the probability of a computer system being intruded is very high. A recent example of computer system intrusion is the popular attacks of the groups like anonymous into the government websites of USA. The crackers might have their own reasons for these attacks but the reality is that not every cracker is doing this for a cause.
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Linux today is the fastest growing operating system that is replacing it’s competitors in almost every sphere of technology field. The major reason for this is the simplicity and robustness of this operating system. Besides, there is another quality in Linux that makes it favourite of many. This quality is the seamless customization that can be done with every aspect of this OS. One of the very important aspect is the Linux security. There are many protections and inbuilt security mechanisms that Linux incorporates in the name of system and network security. One of the inbuilt security mechanism is the Linux firewall. Linux provides a very flexible and powerful mechanism to customize the firewall. This mechanism is the Linux IPtables.
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An Antivirus software is a security program to protect your computer against any virus or other malware. Although it is very difficult to infect a Linux machine because of its strong built and community support but that doesn’t mean it is 100% immune from intruders.
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Cyber security has become a big issue nowadays as cyber danger is lurking around us at all the time with internet connections. A Firewall in computing is like a security guard at the gate of the house who manages the incoming and outgoing human traffic by keeping an eye on them. Similarly, a firewall acts as a bridge between internal and external network by controlling the incoming and outgoing network traffic.
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