Steve Rudd wrote:
Hi Steve,
It's not just the kernel that can get hacked. Is it Linux 7 or Redhat 7
? (I'm pretty sure it's Redhat 7).
Anyway, I'm pretty new to Debian and Linux so anyone please feel free to
correct me.
An example of the different methodologies between Redhat and Debian: the
stable version of Debian doesn't use the latest kernel; it hasn't been
tested enough yet (I assume).
I heard that Redhat and Mandrake (no offense, I like all Linuxes) act a
bit like capitalist companies; they want their product to be popular, so
they throw in all the latest stuff, sacrificing some stability and
security (by not testing enough) for "the edge!", having the most
popular product.
I think that about sums up the security differences between Debian and
most other distros. I believe the Debian maintainers and developers take
a more methodical, technical view of things.
---
A cool thing about Debian is the super control it gives you about what
runs on your box and what it can access. I think it actually sacrifices
user friendliness (for newbies like me) in exchange for control. I tried
Corel Linux last week (which is kind of based on Debian) and it
installed everything without me typing more than my name, hitting "next,
next, next". It did a pretty good job, it only missed my sound card! But
I didn't know what it had installed on my machine, and exactly what it
was doing!
I recently read the "Secure Install" thread in this group and tried it.
I killed Corel, and re-installed from the CD and just exited out of
DSelect. (I discovered by the way that you should at least select the
"6) Remove..." option before exiting, so it can remove the pcmcia
packages). Anyway, after that I installed things as I desired with
apt-cache search and apt-get install. (Thank you developers of
apt-setup, and apt-cdrom!).
The point is, by installing packages one at a time, and checking things
after, I could keep great control of everything on my machine.
I also know what modules are loading from, /etc/modules.conf and
/etc/modules.
I also know what services are running in different run levels from the
/etc/rc2.d and other directories.
It's so cool. I'm not an expert on security, I've never been hacked or
virused since I started Linux about a year ago! (Practically all of my
MS friends have had viruses though!)
Enough blurb...
GBY
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