is linux protecting me
May the experts clarify please.
I am a linux user.So with all this news going on about that our encryption we use is vulnerable to attacks, it got me curious.Windows users have antiviruses, thise antiviruses claim that they can protect them from web browsing, identity, Emails, firewalls and all that.Me as a linux user have nothing of that sort. Does that mean I can easily be attacked.if not, then what protects me.Does linux have a built in antivirus.Just curious
I am a linux user.So with all this news going on about that our encryption we use is vulnerable to attacks, it got me curious.Windows users have antiviruses, thise antiviruses claim that they can protect them from web browsing, identity, Emails, firewalls and all that.Me as a linux user have nothing of that sort. Does that mean I can easily be attacked.if not, then what protects me.Does linux have a built in antivirus.Just curious
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| Does that mean I can easily be attacked.if not, then what protects me.Does linux have a built in antivirus.Just curious |
No you can't be easily attacked, in fact it is much more safe on Linux then windows. What protects you is Linux's security design decisions and the fact that Windows is the more popular OS so most viruses are designed for it instead.
Don't have time to go into the details on how Linux protects you by is security designs but it mostly has to do with permissions and I am sure other members can explain it better then I could.
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To me Linux isn't anymore secure then windows. What makes it safer however is it's transparency. You have full access to your kernel for instance while the OS is running, there is really no such thing as memory protection\obfuscation between processes because Linux doesn't care about that kind of thing and there is a consensus in the Linux development community that if you want to do something that would destroy your computer or make in unusable then it is your right to do it.
What this means for malware is that it has no safe place to hide in your system, it can't just disguise itself as some type of process so that the OS prevents you from killing it because no such process exists. There aren't any system load points that aren't documented inside and out, it doesn't lock files or prevent you from deleting them just because they are in use or they happen to be critical to the functionality of the system. So if you do get infected, and there is Malware for certain flavors of *nix out there, then you don't need to jump through any hoops to get rid of it.
What this means for malware is that it has no safe place to hide in your system, it can't just disguise itself as some type of process so that the OS prevents you from killing it because no such process exists. There aren't any system load points that aren't documented inside and out, it doesn't lock files or prevent you from deleting them just because they are in use or they happen to be critical to the functionality of the system. So if you do get infected, and there is Malware for certain flavors of *nix out there, then you don't need to jump through any hoops to get rid of it.
Thanks guys.that does clarify a lot.I gues all I have to do, is learn the unix kernel.Which brings me to my next question.for instance learning c++, you are taught through books tutorials and so on.how does one learn the kernel in and out.I recently got a book called operating systems design and implementation by tenenbaum and woodhull.But, I want something more.something that makes you master the kernel. Any suggestions?
"Master the kernel" would requires years of actual development experience with the kernel. And even then I'm not sure you could be a master of the entire kernel. Maybe of some subset of it.
Kernel is a big deal.
Kernel is a big deal.
Look for a book designed for your version of linux. At my library there's books for ubuntu, fedora, Linux mint, and even just Unix so just go to Amazon (or your favorite online bookseller) and search for a book related to your OS
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