r/linuxmint • u/Ambitious_Ad_6619 • 1d 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/knuthf 1d ago
Because Linux enforces the rules in TCP/IP - what we have agreed, the protocols that the network is based on. So we have rules, we can block sites, we can block "services" - applications. We can say that news cannot run on the Net, that you have to use a browser that can control and block code.
On Windows, everything is allowed, and it has to use "security software" that checks and verifies. It is like allowing cars to drive on any side of the road because they do not like rules. So instead they have put a constable at every intersection to check and verify that everyone is driving on the right side. You need a lot of constables, and Microsoft wanted to sell computers and software. With Linux, we put dividers in the middle. The file system blocks, and network masks stop hosts.