Re: Linux System Maintenance and Security
From: David Wright (david_c_wright_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 07/26/04
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Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2004 00:50:37 +0200
Daibidh wrote:
> A friend of mine has somewhat thrust me into the Linux world.... kicking
> and
> screaming. On a recent post, you all have been most helpful and
> informative. I do not wish to take advantage of your hospitality by
> inundating you with endless questions that have, no doubt, been answered
> over and over since time in memorial. However, if you wouldn't mind, I
> would like to hear your opinion on the different needs Linux might have in
> comparison to Windows XP regarding such concerns as firewalls, virus
> protection, and the required maintenance needed to keep it operating at
> optimal performance.
>
> The concept of separating everyday use from "root" and its effects on
> system
> stability and security really has me intrigued. My thinking is still
> firmly planted in the whole Windows paradigm and I am having difficulty
> grasping the computing reality out side the Microsoft box.
>
> Dave
O'Reilly have a good range of books on Linux, and I also used the Linux
Administration Handbook (ISBN 0-13-008466-2). It goes into great depth on
why you should be doing things, as well as how. I found it a bit old
fashioned, concentrating on command line configuration - but as it is
cross-distribution based and different distributions have different GUI
tools, it is to be expected I suppose.
It isn't cheap ($50), but it is very useful. If you don't want to splash out
on it, see if you can get it at a secondhand bookshop or from your local
library.
There are some virus protection tools, but unless you are sharing the
partition to Windows machines, they aren't necessary at the moment.
To be honest, in the work environment, Microsoft recommend that Windows be
run on restricted user accounts. Games software and some utilities often
baulk at this, as do some badly written applications, but most big site
using Windows will implement security in a similar "root"/"Administrator"
and "normal users" manner to other operating systems.
Having worked on a Government site, the amount of work that goes into
securing their Windows PCs is a damn site more than is involved in securing
Linux (from the spec I was working on at the time (a couple of years ago),
it was several pages of Windows Registry hacks!).
You need to start looking at security more seriously. Ask yourself some
simple questions when thinking about logging on. "Do I need 'root'
privileges for this task?" "Why would I need to write to the application
directory?" (any user configuration should be stored under your home
directory, and unless you are installing or upgrading, you should never
need write access to an applications directory.)
If you want to learn how to do something, use Google (or your favourite
search engine) and search on "howto" and the topic (e.g. "security",
"firewall configuration" (use a specific firewall name, there are lots out
there), "configuring samba" etc.).
And if all of that doesn't help or leaves you confused, post questions here,
that's why we read the group, to ask for help or to offer our help when it
falls into our area of "expertise" i.e. we've hit the same wall and found a
way round it ;-)
Dave
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