this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2025
51 points (98.1% liked)

Linux

58140 readers
359 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Hi there,

Win10 is soon not supported. Tbh Linux have been on my radar since I started to break from the US big tech.

But how is security handled in Linux? Linux is pretty open-source, or am I not understanding it correctly. So how can I as a new user make sure to have the most secure machine as possible?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Aelyra@lemmy.ml 5 points 8 hours ago

Also in line with viruses, given how many variants of a base system there can be, unless the virus is compiled in your machine, to my knowledge chances are higher for a virus to fail to function properly, or even at all.

Cross-platform malware does exist, and one of the most common and practical forms is malicious browser extensions. A harmful Chrome or Firefox add-on can function just as effectively on Linux as it does on Windows.

On another point, something I expect to become a problem in Linux is that you need the admin’s password, which is pretty much the master key of the system, for way too many things, even to install a web browser or the equivalent of 7-Zip. With scams usually involving social engineering, having the user hand a key from a system that depends mainly on it makes the system far more vulnerable.

Multiple types of dangerous malware can run on Linux without requiring root privileges. As previously mentioned, malicious browser extensions pose a significant threat. Harmful actions like deleting files or logging keystrokes can also be carried out using a Python script that doesn't need root access.

Linux is undoubtedly more secure than Windows for a variety of reasons, but Linux users should still remain cautious. No system is completely invulnerable.