Seurity Software Warning

Sorry but I found this funny. I run Trend Micro on my PC's and have been quite happy with it thus far. (Hate Norton and McAfee) I was just checking e-mails on my Mac at webmail level from ISP. Got this warning that potentially dangerous scripts were removed. (Probably allowing links back to their site.) I realize this is nothing but it pegged my irony meter.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/08687a2181d8.png[/atsimg]

reply to post by kinda kurious


The only true security on your computer comes from Linux.
You don't mess with the open source community!

reply to post by g146541


I'd have starred you, if it were true.

Originally posted by g146541
reply to post by kinda kurious

 

The only true security on your computer comes from Linux.
You don't mess with the open source community!

No...
Linux users mindlessly repeat this but it is not true. One issue is Linux has such a low marketshare (some say it is less than 2%) that hackers rarely devolop malware for Linux. Before you go into how "most webs servers are hosted on Linux machines" i will remind you how Websites are hacked ALL the time and how malware is distributed through linux based servers.

All Internet Servers run Red Hat Linux. Imagine one of those big servers that service the internet cafes in China running windows software. One little virus, denial of service, or registry error and the whole thing goes down. Billions of dollars in revenue lost. I once ran Windows, 98, then 2000, then XP. Had a lot of problems, as I am a power user and customize my OS to be fast, stable, and personal. Been using Linux for 8 years now, I would not go back for money. 101 reasons why Linux is better than Windows

reply to post by autowrench


It is on my Bucket List to set up a Linux box someday for personal use. However, my business requires me to run certain OS platforms for proprietary software (mostly video editing Final Cut Mac OS) plus my wife's accounting business. ( Quickbooks, Excel, Turbo Tax, Tax Act, Peachtree and Skyline) I maintain a small network with 8 computers of various flavors and I'm by no means a computer wiz. First thing tech support asks is what OS when troubleshooting issues and at present I have a tiger by the tail as it is. (Between our two business we're probably running between 10 to 15 discreet software packages, not to mention tons of peripheral scanners, printers NAS etc.)

If my demands were less complex and I had more time to tinker and brains to figure it out, I'd jump on Linux in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, that isn't on my radar now, but thanks for the advice.

Security is mostly in the configuration of the machine not the OS on it, I've had both Windows and Linux machines that were near air-tight, and others which were compromised because of mis-configurations (Nagios comes to mind) that let the bad guys in, the only way to truly be secure with computers is not to use them at all and even then some rocket surgeon at your bank could cause a breach buy not applying patches in a timely fashion.

I am very security conscious, have been hacked before, and I set my machine up for high security. Want to check your machine's security? Go here and run some tests.

www.malwarehelp.org...
I run a proxy on my Firefox, here it is. Go to "Edit, Preferences, Advanced, Settings, and put this in the field for "Manual Proxy Configuration."
67.109.124.170.ptr.us.xo.net
Set it to use this proxy for all connections. The proxy is for Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank and Dallas. It works quite well, and doesn't slow down your browsing habits.

reply to post by autowrench


Wow, there are some GREAT tools there. Big hat tip for sharing.

One nailed my location and ISP in under 5 seconds. Definitely gonna explore spoofing my IP.