BleepingComputer.com: Ubuntu

Hello, I am just curious and very new to the world of Ubuntu Linux. It seems soo much faster than Windows. Why? I hope I don't get a virus.

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When you behind a Firewall and you have a Virus scan and you take care for regular updates from your Virus scan, than is it not needed that you are in sorry for this.

Being faster may be the result of any number of factors: perhaps you had a lot of auto starting programs in Windows or perhaps there was some sort of driver issue just under the surface.

As for viruses, you don't have much to be concerned about. The number of viruses which exist for Linux can be counted by two people (using both fingers and toes.) There just isn't that much demand for malware on Linux and Linux generally is harder to compromise than Windows is.

At the same time if you are really interested in establishing a security system for your Ubuntu box I would consider Kaspersky. They have a free trial if you fill out a form online, and tons of people I know at my local college (from my primary instructor/network administrator to my classmates) swear by it on their other platforms. This can also help get you launched in setting up protections against other types of vulnerabilities that aren't as traditional as viruses (but lets face it, getting the virus thing out of the way makes your day a whole lot easier! How many posts have you seen in the last 24 hours begging for help with a virus on Windows?)

The speed of a Linux PC can be faster then that of a Windows PC for various reasons, Andrew mentioned most of them. Be aware that a *nix OS accesses hardware differently then Windows which can lead to faster performance and the Format of the Hard Drive partition is also different and can change read/write times.

Ubuntu has firewalls available in the repos, and for the life of me I can't remember if IPTables is installed by default in Ubuntu or if SELinux(does this even exist anymore?) is enabled.
As for AV software, again check the Repos, AVG and Clam AV are available from the repos.

For Linux firewalls I like Uncomplicated Firewall (ufw) which, as its name implies is fairly uncomplicated. It should be in the repos.

For me, Ubuntu is not as fast as Windows 7. As far as boot time. Both are very quick.
If you do banking and shopping online, that is a good enough reason to have Ubuntu or other
Linux distro. There are no known keyloggers, etc. that even attempt to install in Linux. Many small
businesses have discovered this and have machines dedicated to just doing their banking on Linux distros.

Surprised no one mentioned the Fire Starter firewall.

IPTables is installed by default.

Fire Starter project has been dead for some time.
I use Shorewall.
As Andrew said there is Uncomplicated Firewall and gufw (graphical):
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/gufw-simple-gui-for-ufw-uncomplicated-firewall.html

And if you are super paranoid about being "pwnd" here's some late night
reading to bore the heck out of you.
AppArmor vs SElinux: http://www.novell.com/linux/security/apparmor/selinux_comparison.html

Disclaimer: This link is provided for Educational purposes only.
LKL Linux KeyLogger
http://sourceforge.net/projects/lkl/

I was speaking of keyloggers installed by malware. Without the users consent.

Here is part of an article written about 18 months ago.
Security Fix - Avoid Windows Malware: Bank on a Live CD
Washington Post

.......I'm not the only one recommending commercial online banking customers consider accessing their accounts solely from non-Windows systems. The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) - a industry group supported by some of the world's largest banks -- recently issued guidelines urging businesses to carry out all online banking activities form "a stand-alone, hardened and completely locked down computer system from where regular e-mail and Web browsing is not possible."

In direct response to this series reported and published by Security Fix, the SANS Technology Institute, a security research and education organization, challenged its students with creating a white paper to determine the most effective methods for small and mid-sized businesses to mitigate the threat from these types of attacks. Their conclusion? While there are multiple layers that of protection that businesses and banks could put in place, the cheapest and most foolproof solution is to use a read-only, bootable operating system, such as Knoppix, or Ubuntu. See the SANS report here (PDF).

Also known as "Live CDs," these are generally free, Linux-based operating systems that one can download and burn to a CD-Rom. The beauty of Live CD distributions is that they can be used to turn a Windows-based PC temporarily into a Linux computer, as Live CDs allow the user to boot into a Linux operating system without installing anything to the hard drive. Programs on a LiveCD are loaded into system memory, and any changes - such as browsing history or other activity -- are compeltely wiped away after the machine is shut down. To return to Windows, simply remove the Live CD from the drive and reboot.

More importantly, malware that is built to steal data from Windows-based systems won't load or work when the user is booting from LiveCD. Put simply: even if the Windows installation on the underlying hard drive is completely corrupted with a keystroke-logging virus or Trojan, that malware can't capture the victim's banking credentials if that user only transmits his or her credentials after booting up into one of these Live CDs.................

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Sry m8, taken out of context. However, they do exist and if crafty enough can get a user to
install as root (sudo).

+1 That is the best advice for avoiding malware. Can't write to a closed CD
I myself use a boot flash. In an "unfortunate" event it can be
microwaved for 15 seconds.

Thanks buddy215 and raw for the great information. I am a new Ubuntu user and interested in securing my machine from malware. I too bank on-line and from now on will use a live cd.

Raw I was wondering about a comment you made "In an "unfortunate" event it can be
microwaved for 15 seconds."

Your only speaking figuratively about microwaving your flash drive, right? I am guessing what you really mean is you could reformat it. I did run a flash drive through a commercial drier a couple of times, it's warped but still works, never thru a microwave.

Linux and Unix Flavors are written quite differently then WIndows and that allows them to access hardware resources that maybe WIndows cannot access thus making it seem faster.

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