linux security

[karantan]

i have heard lot abaut *bsd security and linux. generaly *bsd is more secure and stable then linux mostly becaus of its kernel. why dont guys that develop kernel make so secure kernel like *bsd's kernel. is linux kernel realy so unsecure as they say or not? how can i make linux system secure and stable as fbsd?...

[spoon!]

What did you hear that makes the Linux kernel less secure?

My system runs SELinux (available for many distros), which is a kernel extension implementing Mandatory Access Controls developed by the NSA which probably helps with the security.

[technossomy]

The topic has been discussed many times over the years in various bulletin boards. It is worthwhile distinguishing between "secure" and "securability". The BSD family may not be very secure out of the box, it is by reputation highly securable quite easily. The same may be true for Linux; a good measure is counting the number of security advisories per month for an OS and make your decision on that basis.

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[anomie]

The BSD family may not be very secure out of the box, it is by reputation highly securable quite easily.

I don't know of anything that is really secure out of the box, but FreeBSD is getting close.

The point about "secure" and "securable" is well taken, though, and for a real expert Linux (and even Windows) can be made highly secure.

The same may be true for Linux; a good measure is counting the number of security advisories per month for an OS and make your decision on that basis.

Or maybe counting the number of "critical" security advisories? If Linux puts out 1,000 advisories, two of which are critical, and Windows puts out 50 advisories, 45 of which are critical, I think I will feel more comfortable with 998 that aren't going to result in my system being compromised. (And I'll patch the other two.)

[technossomy]

Anomie

You have point there:

Or maybe counting the number of "critical" security advisories? If Linux puts out 1,000 advisories, two of which are critical, and Windows puts out 50 advisories, 45 of which are critical, [...]

Better not to tread there, all manner of legal conundra will come your way when trying to agree on a counting method. The most authorative source is still CERT (www.cert.org), but even that is ocassionally contested.

Best


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