10 practical tips for securing your Linux Mint system
www.fosslinux.com
While Linux Mint is known for its security features, it is not immune to threats, including malware, viruses, and hackers. It is essential to secure your Linux Mint system to protect critical, personal, and sensitive information from unauthorized access or theft.

Windows refugee here. I’m planning to move to Linux Mint but want to make sure I don’t do something stupid, as I’m unfamiliar with the Linux operating system.

I found this link with 10 tips to secure Mint.

Is this a good list? Anything else I should do to secure a Mint install?

Thanks for helping a noob!

  • jamesbunagna@discuss.online
    91·
    2 days ago

    Is this a good list?

    The link definitely provides some good info. It’s better than nothing. However, it may or may not fall short based on how secure you’d like to make your system.

    Anything else I should do to secure a Mint install?

    What is it you’re trying to protect and from whom? Whenever the topic of security comes up, one simply can’t engage meaningfully without mentioning a threat model.

    In this case, I’ll assume you’re just your average Joe. And, depending on how you engage with your system, Linux Mint might be fit from the get-go. However, if you actively engage in downloading random jank from the internet and have ‘survived’ with the help of Microsoft Defender Antivirus, then you should know that a safety net as such doesn’t exist over on this side. Sure, security through obscurity might save your ass a couple of times. But it’s inevitably a losing battle.

    So, without knowing your threat model, note the following important advice that the article somehow hasn’t touched upon:

    • Know that you, the user, are the largest attack surface. Even if some distros like Fedora and openSUSE (with the latter AFAIK scoring the best[1] according to Lynis) actually put in great work to offer pretty secure systems, they absolutely won’t be able to protect you against yourself.
    1. It’s important to mention that this excludes security-first distros like Kicksecure and secureblue. Nor is Qubes OS considered as it’s technically not even a Linux distro. Other distros like Tails or Whonix are also not considered as they’re not meant to be used as daily drivers and/or for general use.
    • anonymous111@lemmy.worldOP
      3·
      2 days ago

      Thanks for the reply. I’m fairy average Joe. I’ll mainly use this machine for downloading files and general browsing. I don’t have any personal files or accounts on that device.

      I’m mainly concerned with neglecting to enable (or disabling) something critical or accidentally downloading something malicious (although this hasn’t happened for many many years).

      • jamesbunagna@discuss.online
        3·
        2 days ago

        Thanks for the clarification!

        If you trust both the source and the file, then downloading by itself shouldn’t constitute a problem. Supply-chain attacks are still possible, but that’s a hard problem to solve anyways. I suppose I’d only trust Qubes OS to handle that gracefully.

        For general browsing, GrapheneOS-folk would advice against Firefox(-based browsers). Instead, they’d recommend (something based on) Chromium. Personally, I do follow that advice. But I understand if you’d like to stick to Firefox(-based browsers).

        Coming back to Linux Mint, I won’t go over my (personal) qualms with the security model of the distros it’s based on. But as Linux Mint offers one of the best onboarding experiences, it would be a disservice to lead you elsewhere. Become comfortable with Linux through it. And, perhaps one day, if you feel like venturing elsewhere, you can try out distros that offer better security. Thankfully, Linux Mint’s OOTB security should be sufficient until then.

        As for the article, everything except for the fourth recommendation is a W. Utilizing ClamAV could be cool, but it’s based on a very naive understanding. You wouldn’t want an untrusted file on your system in the first place. Obviously, a lot more mileage[1] is possible. But one has to learn to walk before they can run 😉.

        1. Note that the information and instructions found on the excellent ArchWiki often work on and/or apply to other distros as well.
        • anonymous111@lemmy.worldOP
          1·
          2 days ago

          Thank you for your advice. I will take it. As a beginner, I’ll start with Mint.

          Would your reccomend any other secure distro for the future?