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Is the Linux Desktop less secure than Windows 10? [pdf]

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Re: Is the Linux Desktop less secure than Windows 10? [pdf]

#161

Post by Arizhel »

bigbugbag wrote: post #137
TheManuell wrote: post #17

About the $10K: don't forget that the french Gendarmerie runs on Ubuntu. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GendBuntu

Sorry but the french Gendarmerie does not run on Ubuntu. They use a custom made distro called GendBuntu which is based on Ubuntu as Ubuntu is based on Debian.

Do you work in/for the Gendarmerie?

I seriously doubt it's like you say. It's probably a lot more like a "custom made distro" that's based on Ubuntu as Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu: all the core stuff exactly the same, and a few things on top different (namely the DE in the case of Mint).

Re: Is the Linux Desktop less secure than Windows 10? [pdf]

#162

Post by digi_owl »

bkor wrote: post #159
digi_owl wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Gnome DE...

Apport, gstreamer, Tracker/Baloo, Chrome/Chromium/Epiphany, ASLR isn't just GNOME. It seems investigation started on Ubuntu (Unity 7). It affects multiple desktops and as others notes, also Baloo.

And the point goes wosh past the pr flack once more...

Re: Is the Linux Desktop less secure than Windows 10? [pdf]

#163

Post by wallace_f »

ch0wn wrote: post #20
jmnicolas wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm not rational but I'm much more worried about Microsoft having access to my data than some random "Russian" hacker.

Yes, that does not exactly strike me as a rational stance to take. Are you actually more worried about Microsoft blackmailing you about those photos from 4 years ago?

Government and the police state are already abusing access to our personal information in awful ways. Sometimes that means cops stalking people whom they have a grudge against, or even a love interest in(1). CEOs of major companies leave their cell phones outside of important meetings.

1 - (https://jezebel.com/5887363/creepy-cops-use-dmv-database-to-...

Re: Is the Linux Desktop less secure than Windows 10? [pdf]

#164

Post by brandon272 »

jmnicolas wrote: post #19
xpaulbettsx wrote: post #6

I mean, the answer is unequivocally, without the slightest doubt, yes. The Linux Desktop is probably a good 5-10yrs behind Windows 10 in terms of defense-in-depth mitigations as well as exploits in common targets like file parsers etc etc. https://www.blackhat.com/docs/us-16/materials/us-16-Weston-W... is a good reference for all the stuff that Desktop Linux in 2017 is for the most part, missing

Maybe I'm not rational but I'm much more worried about Microsoft having access to my data than some random "Russian" hacker.

> Maybe I'm not rational but I'm much more worried about Microsoft having access to my data than some random "Russian" hacker.

Russian hackers, past, present and future, routinely steal information and use it against the victim, whether we're talking about individuals or corporations. And I'm just talking about login credentials or credit card information, nevermind more personal data like phones or even intellectual property.

Microsoft hasn't done any of that, as far as I am aware.

Re: Is the Linux Desktop less secure than Windows 10? [pdf]

#165

Post by CaptSpify »

digi_owl wrote: post #135
throwaway1023 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a small comment on why the desktop environment might need to parse such a file: How about sorting music files according to their real length? Many desktop environments support such a feature, and users like those features, too.

And they need to do this, why?

Even if the user wants to do this, seems like a good thing to have off by default

Re: Is the Linux Desktop less secure than Windows 10? [pdf]

#166

Post by gjjrfcbugxbhf »

mirimir wrote: post #130
bigbugbag wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't post online either, unless you are able to alter your writing style often. Passed writings linked to your profile will be used to try to identify you. It all depends on your threat model and how wanted you are as a target.

It helps to be multilingual :)

Why? Surely using two multiple languages competently is a fingerprinting characteristic? Unless you manage to use them only in different contexts in different hardware...

Re: Is the Linux Desktop less secure than Windows 10? [pdf]

#167

Post by CaptSpify »

kalleboo wrote: post #99
jmnicolas wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I'm not rational but I'm much more worried about Microsoft having access to my data than some random "Russian" hacker.

I'm not worried about Microsoft having access to my data, but I am worried about Microsoft having access to everyone's data.

And I'm worried about who MS is giving my data to

Re: Is the Linux Desktop less secure than Windows 10? [pdf]

#168

Post by tomxor »

dijit wrote: post #2

Feeling mighty smug about my preference for tiling window managers and minimal distro choices. But I shouldn't, they found bugs in software I use daily (ffmpeg for example), it would be relatively trivial to make me execute something with it, since my brain is trained to 'exes as threats' not mp3s.

Me too... It's usually a bad idea to apply one principle to everything but i'm finding less and less reason to not just throw minimalism at everything. Complexity is the source of so many problems in software.

Re: Is the Linux Desktop less secure than Windows 10? [pdf]

#169

Post by pikzen »

wander_homer wrote: post #139
AsyncAwait wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it gives a false sense of security Why is getting the latest security updates giving a false sense of security exactly? > The File Manager UI, for example, lacks too many features and user must investigate alternatives and either assume that everything is all right or deeply examine security vulnerabilities for each available option. Same goes for basic things like text editor or calculator and so on. This is where…

> Why is getting the latest security updates giving a false sense of security exactly? Because in quite a few distributions you don't get security updates reliably. For example Debian Stable excludes most WebKit-based libraries from their update policy. https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/amd64/release-notes/c... So users of browsers like Midori and Epiphany or E-Mail-Clients like Evolution on Debian Stable, curre…

You. Are. Not. Supposed. To. Install. Debian. Stable. On. A. Desktop. Machine.

How many times will this have to be repeated? Stable is for servers. If you're running webkit based libraries on your server you have other issues. For desktops, both Testing and Unstable are the valid options.

Re: Is the Linux Desktop less secure than Windows 10? [pdf]

#170

Post by SwellJoe »

throwaway1023 wrote: post #102
SwellJoe wrote: post #41

It's interesting that the problems are all with things that I actively dislike about the modern Linux desktop. I mean, I guess it's OK that it creates thumbnails of images...but, the tendency to grind away for seconds whenever opening a big folder (Windows does it, too, I guess) is just annoying. I end up using command line most of the time for file management tasks because it's too slow and cumbersome to use the UI.…

Just a small comment on why the desktop environment might need to parse such a file: How about sorting music files according to their real length? Many desktop environments support such a feature, and users like those features, too.

Sure, they're features. Some people like the features. I'm getting old and cranky. My thinking is that I have a program to index and play my music library...I don't need the desktop to know anything about my music, except which program to load when I click a music file. (I've been amazed at how awful this experience still is on Windows...every time you install an application, it'll seemingly try to take over as many file extensions as possible. Microsoft apps, in particular, are egregious about this practice.)
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