More security

[Berticus]

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7192

This article kinda made me uneasy, and really made me think twice... It is somewhat old, but even so.

I have chkrootkit, panda, clamav, tripwire, iptables, and firewall builder. My router has a firewall in it that is currently enabled. I check for updates daily in every program that I have installed. I don't know how to use tripwire and panda (yet), but I have to somehow find out. I am also going to install Snort.

Is there anything else that I can do to protect myself from vulnerabilities? Or do I just hope that nothing bad happens to my machine?

Linux seems great, and getting used to it is easy and doesn't take long. In fact, I find it a lot more easy to use than Windows. But how secure is it really?

[jim]

Did you read who funded the report??

funded by Symantec - the California-based anti-virus software vendor - and Microsoft.

[CuCullin]

Well, heres the thing.

Out of the box, yes, its pretty insecure - there are many possible exploits, depending on what you have installed and use. The key to security is to take as many steps as you have time/feel comfortable doing, and you can increase your security immensely.

Hardening Linux is a book out this year that gives a good overview, you might find it in your library. Also, the most recent Linux Journal has an article on the future of linux security that does an excellent job of explaining why there are issues today.

Basically, if you are concerned, and have taken steps, you are much more secure than any out-of-the-box install. You can be much more secure in linux than you can be in many other OS's - just take care to learn about what you run, turn off what you don't want/need, and keep up to date.