this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
0 points (NaN% liked)

Linux

48009 readers
821 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Im using linux for +-3 yrs and im pretty used to it. Im currently running nixos on my laptop. My question is what kind of hardening do i need firejail, apparmor, selinux, .. all 3 of them ? none of them ? Thanks for the advice and have a nice day

top 9 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] nous@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago

Linux is fairly secure out the box and typically does not need any sort of extra hardening for most people unless you have a specific case you are worried about or some threat model that requires it. And hardening a system is not simply about installing some package, but more about learning to setup and utilise said packages to mitigate the threats you think you are going to be dealing with. Hardening a system generally comes with tradeoffs and these are not always worth the cost involved for what you get from them. All depends on what types of threats you think you will face - a journalist in a hostile country is going to want a far more secure system and will be more willing to compromise on other aspects to get that then some grandma that just wants to look at pictures on facebook. Both of these will want different tradeoffs for their systems.

Generally speaking I would start by reading up more about hardening linux systems, and what types of things these tools are designed to do. I would start with anything related to the system you are interested in, nixos has its own guides general security which links to many things you might want to think about. Arch Linux also has some good guides on security that are worth a read. And there is more general stuff like The Practical Linux Hardening Guide or redhats guides though these are more server focused and might offer tips that can be too restrictive for desktop systems.

As for apparmor and selinux, these are competing technologies and I don't think you can use both at once.

[–] HumanPerson@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I am not sure. I personally don’t trust selinux because it was developed my the nsa, though that is just me being tinfoil-hat-ish about it. I am a fan of clamav / clamtk for files you think are sketchy (“alternatively obtained” games and things.) I also use ufw but that is more of a thing for servers if I’m not mistaken. If you use ssh server on your laptop, you should get fail2ban or sshguard. While the whole “Linux can’t get hacked” thing is wrong, as long as you stay updated and don’t be stupid you should be protected from automated scripts which is all desktop users really need to worry about.

[–] Hercules@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks for the time to anwser. What is the diffrents between ufw and systemds firewall ?

[–] Helix@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Which systemd firewall are you talking about?

[–] Hercules@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I meant firewalld im sorry

[–] danielfgom@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Use UFW - uncomplicated firewall. Some distros install it by default. Its very easy to use whereas other firewalls are super complicated

[–] Hercules@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I currently use firewalld is their a diffrents in terms of security ?

[–] Helix@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

No, only the configuration syntax is different. If you know what you're doing in configuring them both are fine.

[–] Helix@feddit.de 0 points 1 year ago

They're pretty similar but firewalld allows more complex rules without resorting to plain iptables syntax. Try both and see what you like better.