iptables stateful matching security

[Jeremy Drake <jeremyd@apptechsys.com>]

I have written a firewall for the company I work for, which uses stateful 
packet matching.  I have this question: Is is safe/secure/wise to do this.  
For instance, if I require no one from the outside to connect to the local 
linux box, would I be safe doing "iptables -A INPUT -m state --state 
ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT" followed by "iptables -A INPUT -j DROP"?  
Can I be reasonably assured that my box is secure using this firewall and 
keeping up with the latest 2.4 kernels?  (of course, I am running 
tripwire, and have a minimal set of users and services running on the 
box).  

Thank you for helping me clear up this point of confusion between my 
colleagues and I....

-- 
Q: How many Microsoft support staff does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Four. One to ask "What is the registration number of the light bulb?", one
   to ask "Have you tried rebooting it?", another to ask "Have you tried
   reinstalling it?" and the last one to say "It must be your hardware because
   the light bulb in our office works fine..."


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