Not so secure
I’ve been an on-off user of Linux for many years. Initially, I was tempted by the magic of Knoppix 3, succumbing to the power of openSUSE 10 and enjoying the fun of Puppy 5. More recently I’ve discovered MX Linux 18, which seems to work flawlessly on every single PC. But I’ve always come back to Knoppix, now at version 8. I must add that I’m still very much a novice Linux user.
I use Knoppix all the time now. It’s become my day-to-day working desktop. I save my changes to a persistent data file that gets saved on exit and loaded on boot. It’s so easy to use, with everything pre-installed, but is it safe? Is it safe to use any live distro online in this way? I recently read the file
README_security.txt in the Knoppix folder and now I’m not sure. I have set a new root password, but is that enough to be safe? Stephen, via email
Neil says
Let’s start by saying nothing is safe, but you have to use something, so consider what’s safest or what compromises you’re willing to make on security. If you’re using Knoppix on an encrypted install with a secure password, then it’s as secure as anything you could use on the whole. Many security types might suggest www.qubes-os.org as the next step, as it attempts to sandbox everything running on it.
Typically, the main attack vector is a phishing attack or other malware-based attack, which will come via email, browsing or clicking a compromised link, but as 95+ per cent of those target Windows a Linux distro is going to be pretty safe… relatively speaking, of course.