Penetration and Security of ubuntu operating system and it's working

Question

I was reading about ubuntu and linux systems that they are immune to malware and virus attacks due to their well managed and good architecture. So the question is how much secure a ubuntu system is without any supportive anti-virus and other security software's. What packages are preferred to be used with ubuntu for secure computing?? I am emphasizing on how much secure is Ubuntu from penetration point of veiw..and if it is so much immune then how does it do so...or if it is not immune which packages are preffered to be used to make it more secure to any penetration attempt??

Answer 1

To start off, no system is 100 % secure. Even if you're running Linux, something can go wrong. If you want 100% security, turn off your system. In my opinion you don't need anti-virus software in Ubuntu, because a virus can't harm Linux, mainly because in order to install itself or infect your computer, a virus needs your password. Plus the fact that, you generally install software from secured repositories.

If you need security, a firewall is already installed by default. It's called Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW).

Security vulnerabilities can show up in any OS. Ubuntu automatically performs a daily check for available security updates. As long as these security updates are applied immediately, your system will be OK.

Ubuntu automatically performs a daily check for available security updates. As long as these vulnerabilities are discovered quickly and repaired in a timley fashion, it won't cause an issue.

Extra measures that you can use:

1. Make sure that you use a strong password

2. Protect confidential information, by storing it offline

3. Be wary of suspicious e-mails

4. Back up your data … and make sure you can restore it

5. Protect information in all its forms

Extra Reading

Answer 2

I have never used an anti-virus in six years of using Linux (Ubuntu for most of that time). I think it's quite reasonable to say you'll be fine without one.

If you'd like one to, for example, scan files you're about to send to or have received from a Windows machine, ClamAV runs on Ubuntu and is very easy to use.

With regard to firewalls, the default tool is ufw ("uncomplicated firewall"). You can read a little more about it here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UFW

Answer 3

I feel like I've enumerated this a hundred times or more but Ubuntu isn't "immune".

Like a lot of Linux distributions, we have features that people read too much into:

• Nice maintained repos (but how do we know they're virus free?)
• By default we run unprivileged (Windows does too)
• Open source mean that anybody can audit the code and submit their patches (but do they?)
• Ubuntu doesn't run that many services by default
• AppArmor does limit the range of some applications

And as soon as you add a user, all bets are off.

• Users add things from PPAs without looking at where they come from.

• Users download .deb installers because they've got two decades of experience downloading .exe files. These can be scripted to run anything and they run it as root.

• Users will run almost any scripting you give them if they think it'll help their problem and you can very curtly (and opaquely) script almost anything in Ubuntu by default.

• User view dodgy websites not knowing that their browser and Flash is just as exploitable as Windows users' browsers with Flash. There's a reason pwn2own entrants always go for the browser — it's a weak point.

• Users install a SSH server with an account that has a weak password (ie any password, use keys kids). Tips for securing SSH.

• Users install other services that shouldn't be web-accessible and don't use a firewall. Before they know it, their weak MySQL password is cracked or their webserver is exploited because they don't update it nearly often enough.

• Users dump whatever version of generic PHP script on their LAMP install and never update it.

The only thing that actually works in our favour is that desktop users are currently a target so small that it's not worth attacking... But that could change at any moment. Servers have been being hacked for years but again, this is mostly down to poor administration.

So many people think they can create an Ubuntu server, stick their PHP app on its and don't need to do anything with it. They all get hacked.

And in terms of physical security, Ubuntu is pretty weak. Reboot to root console and you have everything. This can be disabled but it's not the default.