Threatscape Linux

If you weren’t taking your security seriously before, it’s time to start. I’m not about to start saying silly things like “it’s the year of malware on Linux”. Unix-based systems have always had malware, but in many ways the targets are reversed to those of Windows. Linux has a tiny consumer base but a huge business, server and IoT base, and so commercial ransomware or hacking attacks and IoT botnet capture are favourite methods employed by criminals. Contrast this with Windows and its huge consumer base (running out-of-date builds) as a target.

But the world is changing, if slowly. It takes a long time to overhaul a market that’s almost entirely geared to offering Windows-based products, you know. However, the arrival of Steam Deck in early 2022 alongside the continuing growth of Chromebooks will expand both the consumer reach of Linux and the interest in exploiting it.

With this in mind we’re taking one of our regular in-depth looks at the current state of play of the Linux threatscape: who are the bad actors, where are the vulnerabilities, what are the best security practices, and how you can protect your data. Luckily, Jonni is very paranoid and is on the case!

Talking of paranoid, we’re testing backup tools, which is something everyone should be doing, using Swifty to securely store our passwords, keeping an eye on our disk space in the terminal and using a virtually networked test lab. Not to mention reliving our VIC-20 days, creating audacious audio effects and recording studio-quality sound while exploring Nextcloud, the GNU Guix System and loads more, so enjoy!