Looking for Guidance - Security
 

I'm probably going to get all sorts of differenct opinions on this and will have to eventaully figure things out on my own.

I am totally new to Linux and what little I know could be placed on the tip of a needle. I've looked at softwares like Lindows. Mandrake, SUSE etc. to get away from many the viruses that have plagued Windows since I can remember. There is so much out there for LInux I don't really know which way to turn. Consequently, I am asking for assistance via this forum.

I realize I won't get away from all viruses and Trojan horses. However, I do know I can at least minimize them by using Linux. Plus, it appears it is a much more stable OS.

Security is my main concern. Which of the canned Linux software packages offers the best security features without having to tinker around a lot with the settings that I know absolutely noting about or have to purchase other softwares to achieve my PC's security? Does anyone have any suggestions on this as well as what would be the most desirable Linux software package to purchase based on personal experience? I would appreciate any assistance in these regards! :newbie:

Moved: This thread is more suitable in Linux Security and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

Take a look at unSpawn's stickies at the top of the Security forum there is lots of useful information there.

distro recommendation
 

By not using Windows + Internet Explorer, you are avoiding 90%+ of the danger in being online.

I recommend that you try Mandrake. It is newbie friendly and at install-time it lets you choose from four security levels: standard, high, higher, and paranoid. I haven't seen other distros go out of their way to offer the user the option of higher levels of security. I'm using Debian right now, but I've had to go through considerable effort to lock it down that I would have preferred to have set up for me by default.

woonix

well, welcome 2 linux world then bud!
first of all u can read about the different distros, ((http://www.linux.org/dist/index.html) then make sure it supports ur hardware. i recommend u read this as well (http://www.linux.org/lessons/)

have fun!!

Re: Looking for Guidance - Security
 

There is nothing like which is the most secure linux distro. A linux system can be as secure as you want it to be. I highly recommend a book "Hacking linux exposed" for your needs.

based on popularity - redhat (fedora) is the most popular, mandrake being the next followed by Suse and Debian. Gentoo is another one.

First time users normally go for redhat or mandrake (altho there is no such rule) mainly because of the apps they provide.

personally i would stay away from lindows.

I'm not aware of any popular Linux distros thare are really "secure by default". Mandrake does a fairly good job of warning you during installation if you choose to install any network packages that will be turned on by default, but you still have to go lock them down. Mandrake's security levels are also a nice feature, but I did find that I had to tinker with the settings quite a bit to achieve the security I wanted while not driving me crazy. The other nice thing about Mandrake is their update system. I don't know about the free version, but the Pro version I bought was very easy to update and patches came out pretty quickly.

There are a few security focused distros out there, but a couple of them are pay-only and some of the others have very few packages available through their own system, so you would have to compile lots of stuff from source or hope an RPM from a similar distro would work.

If you absolutely want Secure By Default, then look into OpenBSD. It's widely regarded as the most secure publically available OS. Of course, BSD is not Linux and some people think the learning curve for BSD (particularly OpenBSD) is much higher. Personally I disagree and I use OpenBSD mainly because it's simple and things "just work", but then again I've been using *n*x systems for years, so my view might be skewed.

well slackware is considered the most secure and stayable distrobution as i have heard from many people. it doesn't have much eye candy and things here and you learn linux much quicker with it. and not to forget it runs faster then fedora or mandrake or debian. although those are 3 great distro's especially for beginner, my opinion is to start with slackware. that's what i did without having any knowledge of linux. well i did install RedHat 9 before that for about 2 days it didn't atrackt me at all.

the thing with distrobutions like fedora, mandrake .... is that, the setup is nice and fancy, it all seems userfriendly and simple and joyjoy you thing you can handle linux now but then booom, an error or problem occurs and you don't even know where to start from solving this problem.

with slackware and probably gentoo, you do things from the beginning yourself, so you get a hang of how things work and function from the very beginning using simple HOW-TO's. not saying that you will not run into problems with slack or gentoo but atleast you will know that linux is not much like windows as fedora or mandrake or suse make it seem to be.

so if you want to get into linux from the first day and willing to learn, i suggest slackware or gentoo. my personal taste is slackware. and as window manager, fluxbox, because kde & gnome are fancy but are toooooooooo darn slow.

here is the HOW-TO i used when i installed slackware for the first time:

http://shilo.is-a-geek.com/slack/


this is all my opinion and my experience with linux, i am sure there are tons of other people who agree and disagree.

good luck