Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope

[oldskool]

And the reason I like Linux... is that (for now, repeat: for now) Linux doesn't need to be fortified like Fort Knox like Windows.

YES ! I KNOW !

"It's because it isn't targeted like Windows !"

But that is a big reason for me. I just want to do things, get things done. And gaming isn't one of them for me. Not that it makes me any "better", I just am content with not having to deal with viruses every other day.

And yes, I have always used AVG, and Spybot and all for fighting various malware, but it is just nice to have all that free stuff available as well.

EDIT: I will be trying another Unix variation, FreeBSD per Saxon's suggestion, sounds like a winner to me.

 

[Jayce]

Honestly, I've never had a major problem in windows with security. But I also do regular scans with a scheduler and would leave my computer on about two nights a week so the automatic scan @ 3am would take over. So to me when I hear the argument between linux and windows security, it really doesn't phase me.

The one area I do loooooooooove having linux as a file server though is that if the end clients in the house (XP machines) get infected, then even if they back up to the linux file server (a nightly process) the virus typically won't effect the file server with it being linux. So that is one advantage to having platform differences in the household.

 

[oldskool]

And actually, Jayce, I haven't either for the most part. It sounds like it from my earlier post I'm sure. I am talking about the multitude of people out "there", and many people leave themselves open, meaning no updates or (Egad ! No antivirus software ! )

I was just speaking in the broader sense, that I don't have to worry about it under Linux very much at all in comparison to Windows. But now Chris has me thinking about BSD as of late anyway

Edit: Jaunty isn't hardly any different than the Ibex release that I can see. So for anyone interested, I wouldn't even bother.

 

[SparkMonkeyHellion]

I think the major problem with Windows security is that 1) everyone uses it so a virus can pass from one system to another very quickly and 2) Windows requires that regular maintenance and scanning while Linux doesn't (don't know that one for certain, but my guess is that it doesn't

The fact that things like Mac's and Linux's are usually isolated from each other (in the sea of PC's) means that it's harder for anything viral to get around to those boxes.

 

[oldskool]

Well Linux is tied in with more Windows machines than you think, IMO. But I think it has to do more with the fact that as I mentioned before, it (Linux systems by nature) is targeted less frequently. If tomorrow 90+ % machines in the world were suddenly Linux, then the pendulum would invariably swing that way, again in my opinion.

One good design that I can think of that somebody pointed out once is that in order to access a Linux system you have to go through the root (the admin's account) or nothing gets changed, installed, deleted, and so on. Now I am just another observer and I am going by things I have read. Just wanted to share some of that is all.

 

[Jayce]

Fortunately, due to the design of Linux, it by nature is more secure than Windows. That does not mean by any stretch of the imagination that it can't get viruses and whatnot, but the ultimate reality is I'd put all of my money in the Linux pot before I threw a dime at Windows, assuming popularity and exposure on each OS is equal.

 

[oldskool]

And I for one do know that Linux isn't impenetrable, but I am going with it at least these days.

 

[SparkMonkeyHellion]

I remember reading about Linux security and i stumbled upon an obscure distro which is designed to be secure... Wiki has EnGarde listed, but the one I saw was "Iron something Linux" - it had iron in the name of it somewhere...

Anyone know what that one's all about?

EDIT: It may have been a revamp of SecureBSD...

 

[Kharn]

This is what your thinking of BASTILLE-LINUX

 

[Brinson]

Ubuntu now comes default with the Ubuntu Dust theme, and the version of virtualbox in the repos is better I think. I was able to get Virtualbox seamless running in 30 minutes. Edit: Dust is not the default, but it is by default an option. Thought I'd clarify that.

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/1629/screenshotepg.png

That screenshot was taken an hour after I installed the new release.