Linux, Security and Control

Running Linux doesn’t merely put you in charge of things; it grants a sense of power you won’t easily get from Windows or Mac. But it’s really about the people involved.

The primary reason Linux computers seldom get viruses is the Linux user culture. Just the introductory readings for those considering migrating their computers to Linux will teach you constructive paranoia. You won’t get this from Windows users unless you go looking for it, but in Linux it is the first assumption of the entire user community. You do get a version of paranoia from using Windows, with all the alerts and antivirus, anti-malware, etc. However, the big difference is with Windows you know you are helpless in the sense you will ever remain dependent on others.

In Linux land, you are only as dependent as you want to be. Real experts in Windows have a reflex to keep their information out of public view. All the Windows security forums are terribly elitist in the peculiar sense of, “We know what’s best and we will tell you what we want you to know.” Linux communities are not at all like that. Plenty of Linux users don’t have a clue, but those who do will gladly explain way more than you care to learn. So rarely would you get that from a Windows expert, you tend to grab that information and save a copy of it somewhere. And the places where they post such information often flies under the radar. Linux information is paraded in the streets.

You don’t have to become an expert to run Linux, but it’s actually difficult to avoid some level of expertise uncommon among Windows users. This is partly the dynamic of what sort of people are drawn to Linux in the first place. They are looking for something they can’t get with Windows, and the various somethings people search for often includes open access to expertise.

Yes, there are precious few viruses and malwares that run on Linux. Some major portion of that is proof-of-concept. Most of them require the kind of clueless user behavior common among Windows users and wholly uncommon among Linux users. Ever hear of Android, the smartphone OS? It caters to stupid users and gets plenty of malware. Almost no desktop version of Linux does that. Besides, it’s the cellphone functions of Android that open so darn many doors to malware in the first place, functions you won’t find in any other type of Linux. Android is typically not considered “Linux” in the minds of most people because it has such a highly specialized use. Every other use of Linux tends to be secure.

Indeed, Linux servers get more attacks than Linux desktops. Again, that’s because the single greatest likelihood of idiocy is a server admin who runs the simplest, and most easily cracked, software their Linux server. They use a Linux server because the OS is free and/or they believe it’s secure, but then dump some goofy, trendy server junk on top of it. Worse, as non-participants in the Linux user culture, they have no clue how to perform the most basic security checks and chores. A truly large percentage of the Internet runs on good, secure Linux servers controlled by well-clued server admins (not to mention a lot of BSD and other types of Unix).

And if it matters to you, there are free AV packages for Linux; just check with AVG or BitDefender, for example. You’ll notice they protect against Windows viruses because the whole point is wiping out such threats before they get passed on to a Windows machine. At last count, I believe the total count for Linux viruses is less than 100, and most of those are obsolete. Frankly, it’s the mutual incompatibility of the various distributions of Linux that almost necessitates each virus be built specifically for the particular machine it attacks. Then again, the default desktop installation isn’t running very many services, particularly those commonly exploited as entry points.

But the number one selling point for Linux is not all the crap you are likely to read from the fanboys. They ooze with religious fervor about running their favorite brand of Linux. They’ll go on at length describing the joys of things almost no one except a fanboy cares about. They assume every computer user will appreciate what drives them. That’s the primary reason the wider computer user base is so slow to adopt Linux.

The single greatest selling point is not even the control Linux gives you, but the sense of control.

Real security? Who can really say just how secure something is until it’s attacked? You’d have to learn a lot just to know how to check for such attacks, never mind discerning whether the attacks were even competent. With Windows, that is pretty obscure stuff, and often requires specialized tools to interpret the raw data. With Linux, it’s less obscure data dumped into a fairly simple log file, if you want it. The instructions for reading that data are already installed on your computer, most likely — try looking in /usr/share/doc/ for a folder like iptables. Or the man command in conjunction with any command you might know about. When the documentation on your system is scant, you’ll often find something telling you where to get more on the Net.

But if you learn the basic information for one thing, it applies to just about everything in Linux. And if that’s too obscure for you, just use a search engine. It’s all over the place. Just use the terms you are familiar with, or join any user forum, or ask any individual Linux user. They only reason they might not answer is they are trying to help lots of other folks. There are thousands of folks out there who’ve faced really small troubles and are glad to tell about it, along with those few who faced more serious trouble. The entire Linux user base wants you to be secure and successful. Most likely they will not be patronizing to readers.

In other words, it’s more about the people than about the operating system itself. You get to choose what matters to you, and how much you want to learn. It’s all there in the open because of the user culture.

Addenda: As someone noted offline, Linux is all about DIY and taking control, becoming self-reliant.