Linux does not need antivirus or firewall, myth or truth?

Almost Linux users have questions in their mind Linux does not need antivirus or firewall, myth or truth? Currently, one of the greatest dangers to which we expose ourselves when connecting to the Internet are viruses and malware. To avoid problems, especially when using a Windows PC, go through the installation of an antivirus and firewall that can prevent infection of our computer as much as possible. In the opposite case, we find computers that have a Linux operating system, of which it has always been said that they never need antivirus or firewall, is it still the case?

Although there is no perfect or invulnerable operating system, it can be said that a Linux computer has a lower risk of being attacked by malware or virus than other systems such as Microsoft’s Windows or Apple’s macOS, for different reasons we will talk about next.

The benefits of Linux to avoid viruses and malware

That Linux computers are not the main target of hackers and viruses has its reason not to be. On the one hand, we find its popularity. The vast majority of computers on the market, both for home and business users, use Windows as the operating system. Linux, on the other hand, has a much smaller market share . This makes the chance of hackers getting some benefit from an infection much lower. Therefore, it is normal that the number of Trojans and viruses for Linux is much lower, which does not mean that they do not exist. To have them there are, and we can have viruses in Linux, but the probability is more remote, without a doubt.

We must also take into account the architecture of a Linux operating system itself. Well, this will always require root permissions to be able to perform any operation, which makes it difficult to introduce viruses. Likewise, Linux distributions have official repositories from which to download the applications, all of them signed and verified. Also, if we stop using Java and other potential vectors for malware such as Silverlight, PDF files, and outdated extensions, it will be more difficult for us to become infected.

Linux is not invulnerable, but it is more secure

It is something that we must be clear about. Linux is not invulnerable in the face of hacker or virus attacks, but it is more secure than other operating systems such as Windows or macos, largely due to having fewer users. That is why, just by following a few basic security tips, Linux users should consider themselves protected from any threat.

However, none of this means that we should rule out yes or no the use of an antivirus or firewall in Linux, as it is, although the risk is not zero and it still exists. Opening unsafe web pages or opening suspicious emails can end up infecting our computer with a virus or Trojan. Depending on our knowledge and usage, it may be advisable to be forewarned and opt for a free antivirus such as ClamAV, Sophos and Comfortable, as it never hurts to be safe than sorry.

In the same way it would happen with the firewall, as a basic it is dispensable, but in case we run a server on our system (web server, email server, etc), it may be interesting to use it. Thanks to the firewall, incoming connections could be restricted to certain ports, ensuring that they can only interact with the appropriate server application.

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