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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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How do we know if there aren't a bunch of more undetected backdoors? (lemdro.id)

submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by mfat@lemdro.id to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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I have been thinking about self-hosting my personal photos on my linux server. After the recent backdoor was detected I'm more hesitant to do so especially because i'm no security expert and don't have the time and knowledge to audit my server. All I've done so far is disabling password logins and changing the ssh port. I'm wondering if there are more backdoors and if new ones are made I can't respond in time. Appreciate your thoughts on this for an ordinary user.

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[–] friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

As many have pointed out, you don't know that there is not a back door in your software.

One way to defend against such an unknown is to have a method of quickly reinstalling your system, so if you ever suspect you have been compromised you can reload your OS from scratch and reconfigure it with minimal fuss. This is one reason I recommend folks learn one of the configuration management systems like ansible or puppet, and use those to configure your Linux servers. Having config management also helps you recover anfter unexpected hardware failures.

Defense is done in layers. No one layer will protect you 100%. Build up several layers that you trust and understand.

[–] mfat@lemdro.id 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Very good points. Call me paranoid but i always fear I might fail to notice the symptoms of something nasty going on. I wish linux had a built-in, easy-to-use auditing/alerting system. I know this can be achived by experts but others have no idea what's actually going on on their machines.

[–] friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Dude, you're so not paranoid. This stuff has happened to me. I had a Wordpress blog that was hacked and the exploit was stored in the DB so even after reloading the OS I still was infected because I hadn't sanitized my database. Luckily it was just Google search viagra spam, and it was a valuable lesson.