Fedora 20 Security or Desktop?

Novatian · 12-30-2013, 01:54 AM

I just downloaded Fedora 20 Security for my 32 bit computer. It is a desktop, I chose to to download desktop as I prefer security in built, is this a good idea?

unSpawn · 12-30-2013, 04:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Novatian

(..) I chose to to download desktop as I prefer security in built, is this a good idea?

From http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Security_Spin : The Fedora Security Spin is a livecd based on Fedora to provide a safe test-environment for working on security-auditing, forensics and penetration-testing, coupled with all the Fedora-Security features and tools. What that means, wrt "security in built", is you can for example run OpenVAS (https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA:Testcase_OpenVAS), Rootkit Hunter and other tools mentioned here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Category:Security_Lab.

* Remind yourself that "security" is a perpetual process of auditing and adjusting. And while half of secure computing relates to the OS and distribution you use, the other half is in having sane computing habits.

Novatian · 12-30-2013, 05:28 AM

Is the regular installable 32 bit DVD a distro with security hardening?

unSpawn · 12-30-2013, 06:54 AM

I'd say Fedora, just like Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS and other derivatives, is a security-conscious distribution and you should perform auditing and hardening just like you would with any other OS or Linux distribution. Also see the distribution security documentation, GNU/Tiger, sectool, openscap, Cisecurity benchmarks, SANS / OWASP top x lists, etc.