Moblock - PeerGuardian for Ubuntu and others.

Recently I used Azureus to download some free content - some wallpapers, some Linux ISOs and some old text files.

Long after I had finished that, I noticed that something kept knocking on the closed port on which Azureus (Vuze) had been running. That's pretty usual as the trackers tend to do that until they have updated that you're no longer part of the swarm.

Normally, the address range of these connection attempts is pretty varied - all over the world and a wide, wide range of addresses. This time, the address range was very narrow - all in the same block. Obviously, this is abnormal.


After a quick bit of research, I read about PeerGuardian. It's an application which blocks inbound and outbound connection attempts based on a list of known unfriendly IP addresses and address ranges.


The equivalent for Ubuntu is Moblock. It's a mature project having originated in around 2006 and works well.

Rather than re-invent the wheel, I recommend to go here: http://moblock-deb.sourceforge.net/ Download and installation methods are clearly explained and there is help available too. Not only is it available as a command line utility, it also comes with Mobloqeur - a pretty simple and effective GUI to allow you to get a good degree of control over the application.


Installed and configured, you will find it very useful in prohibiting unwanted connection attempts from all manner of creeps who want to see what you're doing.


Peace out!