Post by @codemonkeymike@fosstodon.org

2026-05-21 15:54 UTC

Okay. So question for #linux or #security folks. I want to set up a #nixbook (#nixos) computer set up as a public access computer. I know how to harden the OS to avoid tampering. But how can I filter content? I&#39;m already getting questions like, how can we prevent people from looking up inappropriate things? How would you do it?

Replies (4)

@ftranschel@norden.social 2026-05-21 15:58

@codemonkeymike@fosstodon.org There are certain aspects you can look into like DNS filtering and blacklisting. However, after some decades in IT I can tell you that it is virtually impossible to prevent all conceivable misuse. If you have a browser that is not in a *whitelist* mode, they will access stuff. Just as an example, for cases like these, I have a VPN machine with a dedicated IP somewhere* I can ask to reverse-proxy stuff for me. * Not gonna tell you 😜

Open ##5435801
@Techwizz@fosstodon.org 2026-05-21 16:00

@codemonkeymike@fosstodon.org You may use the /etc/hosts file if you're wanting to block sites from the device itself, problem being you'd most likely have to manually maintain it / add it as a nixOS package and then have to auto update your hosts.

Open ##5435803
@970uts1d3@defcon.social 2026-05-21 16:01

@codemonkeymike@fosstodon.org could use a separate pi-hole as a DNS server and filter using that. All DNS lookups would go through it. And you can put strict filters there, Its separate piece of equip the user has 0 access to. My 2 cents.

Open ##5435807
@26a02a0b26c53a3c78277c16491a4a6a75d77542ec29bf73c7213aa2054d0949@mostr.pub 2026-05-21 16:03

what means public access computer? webserver or do they access over ssh? ufw and fail2ban maybe?

Open ##5435812