Kitz Forum
Computer Software => Linux => Topic started by: tickmike on February 15, 2008, 12:10:45 AM
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I.m getting on well with changing all my family computers over to Linux, (dual boot for a start) .
Do I need to think about any Linux Security eg. anti virus anti malware etc.?.
I have a very good Linux firewall (smoothwall ) with my network running behind it, so i'm not putting extra firewalls on each machine.
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In my opinion you don't need to do anything else. Damaging Linux viruses and similar things simply don't exist. That's not to say that they won't in the future of course, but Linux is a tough nut to crack because of its inherent security provisions such as file ownership and permissions.
If a Linux box is being used as a server for a Windows box, then virus protection would be advised to protect the Windows box, but apart from that I wouldn't bother.
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Does this item in The Register yesterday have any bearing on this query?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/14/claranet_linux_security_hole/
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If you've got an internet server of any sort, then cracking is always going be a possibility, and security bugs are discovered (and quickly fixed) every week. But if you're behind a firewall which blocks all incoming ports then cracking is just about impossible.
But malware exploiting software bugs is certainly possible in any OS. But, contrary to what that Register article says, that bug was fixed in hours and new kernel images released. I upgraded my Debian systems to fix that bug a couple of days ago. It rather looks as though Claranet weren't taking proper note of the security reports.
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In my opinion you don't need to do anything else. Damaging Linux viruses and similar things simply don't exist. That's not to say that they won't in the future of course, but Linux is a tough nut to crack because of its inherent security provisions such as file ownership and permissions.
If a Linux box is being used as a server for a Windows box, then virus protection would be advised to protect the Windows box, but apart from that I wouldn't bother.
Well that's what I was thinking but I wanted to hear from an 'Expert' . ;D
This is the first time I have not bothered with an 'Windows' update (I think it was 17 urgent updates :( ),I will keep my dual boot set up but I will stop windows going on the internet.