Are these firewall settings secure enough for a Ubuntu Web Server?

Question

I am in the process of setting up my firewall using iptables. This is the first time I have ever attempted something like this.

So far I have the following rules:

# Clear any previous entries
--flush
--delete-chain

# Set the default policies for all three default chains
-P INPUT DROP
-P FORWARD DROP
-P OUTPUT ACCEPT

# Enable use of the loopback interface
-A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
-A OUTPUT -o lo -j ACCEPT

# Accept inbound TCP packets
-A INPUT -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT

# Accept inbound UDP packets
-A INPUT -p udp --dport 123 -j ACCEPT

# Accept inbound ICMP messages
-A INPUT -p icmp -m icmp --icmp-type 8 -j ACCEPT

The ports I have open are 80 (http), 443 (https), 22 (ssh), 123 (ntp).

Any suggestions or improvements would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Looks good to me.

In my personal config the lines with the TCP ACCEPT statements are a bit more specific though:

-A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 --syn -m state --state NEW -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp --dport 80 --syn -m state --state NEW -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp --dport 443 --syn -m state --state NEW -j ACCEPT

Answer 2

I'd change your ssh port to something higher, like 2223, and disable 22. Also don't forget 8080 (backup http port).