Slackware vs Ubuntu on security issues

JKoder · 06-09-2006, 05:49 AM

Hello there !
Can anyone tell me wich distro is more secure !
SLACKWARE or UBUNTU ! ( Ubuntu does not have the root USER ! )

Thank you !

Wim Sturkenboom · 06-09-2006, 06:12 AM

Ubuntu has a root user which is not enabled by default.

Code:

sudo password root

allows you to set the root user password and you will have a normal root account available.

For info, read https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RootSudo

From that page (under misconceptions):

Quote:

The user account is the weak link in this chain, and so must be protected with the same care as root.

JKoder · 06-09-2006, 06:13 AM

Ok so you say that in this case Ubuntu is better ?

slackie1000 · 06-09-2006, 06:22 AM

hi there,

Quote:

Originally Posted by JKoder

... is more secure !

can you explain what you understand as "more secure"?
regards,
slackie1000

reddazz · 06-09-2006, 06:29 AM

Security is a very subjective issue and depends on many things including the sysadmin. Maybe if you give more detail about how you plan to deploy Linux, someone maybe able to give you better answers.

JKoder · 06-09-2006, 06:56 AM

OK so here is what i whant to do.
I am using Slackware 10.2 with the bareacpi.i kernel (2.4.31 i guess).
Now i need a ssh,ftp,http server on my machine at home.
I like Slackware better but i dont really like the kernel , i mean i am not really shure is it's better that 2.6.x series. I am using bareacpi because i have Slackware on a laptop.

So in other words i whant to secure my laptop on wich i will use ssh,ftp and http server.
But i know that Ubuntu is quite a god distro out there.

So for this reason i have no ideea will be better for me ( not really a sysadmin )

Thanx

reddazz · 06-09-2006, 07:05 AM

Any distro will work fine for what you intend to do. Like I said security is very subjective and depends on many things including you the user. I would just pick my favourite distro, enable the services I want to run and learn how to secure the distro using distro specific tools or other linux/unix tools.

slackie1000 · 06-09-2006, 07:08 AM

hi there,

Quote:

Originally Posted by reddazz

Any distro will work fine for what you intend to do. Like I said security is very subjective and depends on many things including you the user. I would just pick my favourite distro, enable the services I want to run and learn how to secure the distro using distro specific tools or other linux/unix tools.

i agree with reddazz. and for the kind of app that you are thinking: http,ssh,ftp,... i would say that learning iptables will be quite useful.
regards,
slackie1000

JKoder · 06-09-2006, 07:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slackie1000

hi there,

i agree with reddazz. and for the kind of app that you are thinking: http,ssh,ftp,... i would say that learning iptables will be quite useful.
regards,
slackie1000

OK Thanx i will learn IPTABLES from now on !