I secure systems for my day job. That means installing AV software, ensuring Windows Firewall is ON, etc. (Plus many other things…)

I’ve seen discussions around disk encryption here, but I don’t recall much about a malware protection. Maybe a little about personal (desktop) firewalls.

I’m aware of Clam, etc, but is anyone actually using these tools much?

Or are we just presuming we’re all immune from the bad guys targeting Windows?

  • Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de
    17·
    7 months ago
    • On Linux, you don’t download random stuff from the internet, e.g. a new browser. You get it from a central source, usually package manager, where it is verified and secure.
    • Most stuff is open source, therefore we can check if it does weird stuff. Proprietary software is often seen critically in our community.
    • Linux is usually always updated because of the central update mechanism, so that vulnerabilities are fixed very quickly.
    • Linux has more granular permissions. There’s no “allow nothing” (but still too much) or “give random software access to the whole device” like on Windows. Linux software is written to need only as many permissions as needed, but not much more.
    • Containers are big and crucial, especially when immutable distros grow more popular (even better security!). Many of use use Flatpak because of those pros. With them, we can give or remove every permission, like network access, file system, etc.
    • Antivirus is almost useless, it won’t always work reliably, see it more as an additional measure. Many AVs are close to being malware themselfes. They may act as indicator, but not as safeguard for viruses.
    • If you share stuff with people using Windows, ClamAV is still handy.
    • We aren’t safe from viruses too, but we try to minimize our attack vector as much as we can with those methods mentioned above.
    • Windows viruses can still be executed with WINE, so use Bottles (container for WINE) when running Windows software.
    • Possibly linux@lemmy.zipEnglish
      2·
      7 months ago

      Immutable distros aren’t considered secure or reliable by the industry. You need SElinux to secure a device properly.

      • Guenther_Amanita@feddit.de
        1·
        7 months ago

        Definitely. Having SELinux or AppArmour is very important.
        Image based distros still offer some security and reliability benefits, because they are reproducible and therefore issues can be fixed quicker and easier. Also, at least now, due to the read-onlyness of the core parts of the OS, you can’t install malware as easily.