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I was wondering if installing Matlab is somehow impacting the security of Ubuntu. I am really not an Ubuntu geek and do not know if installing Matlab on Ubuntu will open any ports? I am not using any firewall, since I am not familiar with it, but use my notebook also in a public WiFi.

Thanks for the suggestions

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Do not worry about MATLAB impacting the security of your Ubuntu installation, with regards to firewalls and public WiFi.

MATLAB will open TCP ports for certain things (esp. to verify the license is valid,) depending on how it is configured and how it is used. Normally, MATLAB does not act as a network server, which is what most basic firewall configurations are concerned with.

Running MATLAB wihtout a firewall is not likely to be a security risk, unless your MATLAB script is accessing sensitive data from a remote location. If you work with sensitive data, and this is your concern... do not use public WiFi. A firewall will not help you in this case.

If you are concerned about your computer being compromised as a result of using MATLAB without a firewall, then you do not need to worry.

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  • Thank you, Mark, for the answer! Will the installation of the Instrument control tollbox also be safe?
    – Barbara
    Sep 11, 2013 at 7:06
  • Installing the toolbox is OK, but it does allow your script to act as a network server. It is probably not a good idea to acquire data from or to control instruments with that toolbox over public WiFi. If you are not doing that, then you should be fine. From: mathworks.com/products/instrument/description5.html "TCP/IP and UDP interfaces, for connecting to networked instruments or remote applications using both client and server sockets" Sep 11, 2013 at 16:40

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