Quote:
Originally Posted by katei4
Hi,
I want to know about risk factors in hacking in Linux
Thanks & Regards,
Kate
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Kate,
Linux is secure by design. All modern Linux distributions are set up by default to run the system as a "normal" user account, and only use the root (administrator) account for admin tasks. This step by itself greatly increases the security of a Linux system. If you always run your computer as a normal user, and your system is somehow compromised, the attacker only has normal-user permissions and can't really do anything to harm your system.
One of the biggest problems with Windows systems is that a file is executable based on its extension. If a program ends with ".exe" on Windows, it can be executed. On Linux, a file has to manually be set (chmod +x) to be executable, making it much hardware for malware to be automatically downloaded and executed on your system.
Viruses, trojans, and spyware that infect Windows systems cannot harm Linux systems. Since Windows and Linux are completely different, a virus written for Windows simply cannot run on Linux. While there are malicious programs that have been written for Linux, they are rather rare to come by and most have already been patched. Any modern Linux distribution will already have all the patches built-in.
Modern Linux distributions such as Fedora, Ubuntu, and Suse come with a built-in firewall to seal off ports from outside traffic.
So to answer your question, run a modern Linux distribution, always log in using a normal user account, only use the root account for admin tasks like installing software, always keep your system updated, and keep the built-in firewall turned on. Doing this won't make your system completely "hack proof," as no system facing the internet is completely protected, but it will greatly increase your security.
The best part is modern distributions such as Fedora, Ubuntu, and Suse do all of the above by default.
