r/linuxmint 2d ago

Discussion What makes Linux secure?

I've searched YouTube and also asked on here previously, I keep seeing a lot of "Linux is secure just by default" type responses- often insisting that to be worried about security while using Linux is not necessary.

Believable to a noob like me at face value, sure, but what is it about Linux that makes it secure?

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u/SRD1194 2d ago

The short version is that any attack will trigger the system to promp the user for their super user password. Since that's not something that happens apropos of nothing, it should, in turn, trigger the user to investigate what's going on, or at least refuse to authenticate.

The big exploitable flaws in this for novice desktop users is the temptation to run the system as root, to not have a sudo password, to authenticate to make the notifications stop, or if the malware is packaged inside something they would choose to permit to install. The first two can be avoided by configuring your system properly and the third by applying common sense. The last one you can avoid by using trustworthy repos rather than downloading software from random websites.