How come anyone on Linux can outright simply delete and read Windows files in its file system NTFS ???

The linux kernel can read just about any filesystem that exists. That's a feature, not a bug! But you can't write to an NTFS filesystem without installing a special ntfs-3g toolkit.

More generally, Linux always assumes that its users are smart people who can be trusted with power over their systems because they won't do anything really stupid. If you think that kind of trust is misplaced in your case, then stick to Windows.

The ntfs-3g fuse driver provides many options related to access control and file permissions. I suggest you go have a read and then configure your system to your needs rather than just use the defaults.

Start with man ntfs-3g, or a google search.

The truth hurts sometimes, most of all when you see it in yourself unexpectedly.

Obviously, to Linux, "NTFS" (just like the network "NFS" and many others ...) is a "foreign filesystem." It has been very conscientiously engineered to fully respect important issues like security, but it cannot completely accomplish this because [Windows' ...] very elaborate and multi-faceted security architecture does not exist. The operating environments are fundamentally different. Therefore, y-o-u need to educate yourself about the various available features in order to adequately enforce the security of this "cross-platform" system. The tools and features are out there ...

And, by the way: "comparable issues raise their heads every time 'cross-platform' becomes an issue." You've got to keep the apples from demolishing the oranges.

I've used Linux to mount, read and write NTFS-formatted external hard drives. Lots of times.

What's the problem here?

As far as I know. A password is still required . So not just anyone. If talking dual boot installations.

Now. I have used live linux runs to fix my wife's Windows gear. That is a different story.

Perhaps you should expand on this question. It more seems a rant versus a discussion topic. If intended to be a discussion topic, then what besides your triple question marks are really your thoughts here. As for mine, this capability is perfectly natural. To whit, doesn't Windows have this potential capability when Linux provides NFS mount or Samba share directories?

I haven't used any release of Windows for more than a few minutes in about 14 years but I do recall sometime awhile back there was a Windows driver to read ext file systems but iirc it was ext2 only. There may be newer versions that support 3 or 4 but probably not due to a possible lack of journaling awareness. Anyway while reading ext file systems from Windows had some upsides it also had considerable risk, far more than any version of ntfs write ability and vastly more than Linux ntfs readability which is essentially zero risk. I gather this is because of the difference in the ntfs and ext file systems in terms of extended attribute capabilities. Ext file systems are designed with an extensive array of permissions, for example, that ntfs just doesn't have. One example is Groups awareness and assign-ability.

I really rarely carte anymore since I so rarely use Windows but I do recall being very thankful I could modify and delete ntfs files from Linux as it was the only way to fix some problems, at the very least until bootable Win PE Live systems became available. Just Look before you Leap, that's all and be glad for the power.

Maybe I'm wrong here ... I thought that Linux can read NTFS because NTFS is only "secured" by the host system (Windows). e.g. without encryption, there really isn't anything that prevents Linux from reading the data and just ignoring the NTFS security flags. Are the ext* filesystems any different?

SlowCoder: my take as well. As long as any file system is unencrypted, any OS that can read that file system can also delete, etc. I don't ever remember deleting from an NTFS volume but you certainly can read it. I don't see any reason why you couldn't delete.

I have deleted NTFS files from Linux many times. I have found that feature to be very helpful at times. For about 2 months way back in XP64 days I loaded an ext2 driver in XP. That was a mistake I've never repeated.

Cuz paragon just finally PR'd their NTFS driver to linux kernel.... like a couple weeks ago... Linus did complain there were some github webgui merges tho, but accepted it anyway.

(i know fuse was available before that)