The security of the data and the privacy of the information are fundamental factors that will allow us to be confident that we will always have the integrity and availability of the information.
When using a Linux distro, in this case we will focus our attention on Ubuntu 17.04, we have the misconception that we will not suffer any type of attack or threat such as malware virus, identity theft, among others, but nothing is further from the reality that the recent attacks that we have seen worldwide and that reach any type of operating system and, although it is true that Linux suffers fewer attacks, the mere detail of being connected to the network is a cause of vulnerability.
For this reason, today Solvetic brings some security recommendations that we can easily implement in Linux and thus have optimal levels of privacy when browsing and using it.
Password protect account
The password will always be the first step that we must take into account when it comes to the best levels of privacy in any type of operating system since it helps us that only we have access to the system content.
But rather than setting a password, we must consider the characteristics that the password must have, such as:
- Minimum length of 8 characters
- Avoid using identification numbers, phones, birthday dates, etc.
- Use special characters like @ # $% ^ &
- Toggle between lowercase and uppercase letters
Encrypt the data
Encrypting the data in Linux we are establishing a high level privacy policy because if we do not have the disk access password it will be impossible to obtain the information stored there, so that if an attacker tries to access the disk there will be no way to obtain Delicate information.
Linux basically offers two encryption options: Encrypt the entire drive or simply encrypt your home folder to Linux.
This process can be done from the same process of installing the operating system.
In the case of wishing to encrypt the disk completely we will activate the box, in this case, Encrypt the Ubuntu installation for greater security
By clicking on Install now it will be necessary to define the encryption password which we must remember to access the system:
As a result of this, when starting the operating system it will be required that we enter the assigned password, otherwise we will not be able to use the distro:
In the case of wishing to encrypt the personal folder which will prevent them from having access to our files and documents, we will activate the Encrypt my personal folder box when we configure the user to use the Linux distro:
Lock screen
Another good security practice is to enable the screen lock after a specific period of inactivity.
To lock the screen in Ubuntu 17.04 we can use the key combination Ctrl + Alt + L or configure the automatic lock and for this we click on the System Configuration option and we will see the following:
Ctrl + Alt + L
There we select Brightness and blocking and it will be necessary to activate the Lock switch and define the idle time in which the screen will be locked:
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Remove unnecessary items
Many times we install within our system a series of extensions or add-ons to increase browser productivity or download multiple applications that gradually take up space in the system and some may contain malicious software that impairs optimal performance and privacy in the same.
For Linux, in this case Ubuntu, we can use the BleachBit tool available from the Ubuntu software center which allows us to perform a deep analysis allowing us to quickly delete cookies, free your cache and delete temporary system files optimizing space in Linux .
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Remove rootkit
By navigating daily and constantly on the network we can be exposed to rootkit attacks, remember that a rootkit is basically a group of tools that have been developed by attackers to illegally access an operating system.
These tools are used to hide the processes and files that allow the intruder to have access to the system, periodically for malicious purposes. One of the best tools to analyze locally and remove rootkits in Linux is chkrootkit which we can install by running the following line:
sudo apt install chkrootkitOnce installed we execute the following line to proceed with the respective analysis:
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Disable unnecessary demons
When installing and running various services on Linux, it is possible that many of these demons enable listening on external ports, leaving the possibility of attacks there. To check which ports are listening on Linux we will run the following line:
netstat -ltThe result will be as follows:
There we will see the ports that are enabling listening and we can proceed to its management.
Update the operating system
Keeping the system up to date with the latest updates is one of the best ways to increase security and privacy, since patches are created from there to correct possible flaws in the system.
Use VPNs
Making use of VPN networks (Virtual Private Network) has become one of the most used privacy options today as the VPN is responsible for encrypting our content, increasing security, accessing blocked content, establishing diverse locations and many options plus.
In the following link we can see some of the most practical VPN options that we can implement in Linux.
LINUX VPN
Check website integrity
One of the most practical ways we can prevent our privacy from being affected is by checking the security of websites where we must leave private data such as credit cards, passwords and others.
For this we must validate that the sites to access have the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate which we know with https:
With these tips we will have a notable improvement in privacy in any Linux distro to use and avoid headaches in the short or medium term. Remember that part of the privacy flaws are due to our mistakes and therefore we must be careful in the way of access and management in Linux.
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