Recommendation for secure & easy distribution for a promiscuous laptop?

I

iroc409

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jun 17, 2006
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I recently upgraded my laptop. The old laptop was running Ubuntu, and was used for off-time at work for using the internet (I travel a lot), and connecting to wireless connections at airports when I have extra time to kill.

The new laptop is going to be my main machine, so I would like to have a secure *nix distribution to use for browsing the internet when on public networks so (hopefully) I don't get my Vista install full of crap, and keep my important data more secure.

Really important data will be kept in encrypted containers, but I don't think I have the need or desire to encrypt the whole drive. The only time I plan to fire up Vista at work will probably be when it is disconnected from any networks to get into Quicken or some such.

I don't really want to spend days setting it up. Right now I have reserved about a 15-GB partition on the machine for an install. Is Ubuntu (or maybe Xubuntu) the best choice? All I really use on the old machine is Firefox, Firestarter, and occasionally KeePassX. Wireless support is definitely a must.
 
I would argue all modern Linux Distros are pretty much equally as secure. Use what your most comfortable with.
 
The most secure way to go is to boot from a LiveCD without mounting any partitions on your hard drive.
 
If you are looking for a more 'secure' version of linux, try SELinux. Sometimes it's security gets in the way though, so be warned. And I wouldn't consider it quick and easy by any means.
 
Well, I don't really want to devote a day or two to getting it set up. I've used FreeBSD a lot in the past, so something like that may not be too bad. I've never set up wireless on FreeBSD, however. I like that Ubuntu just works out of the box. I've used Fedora on a previous file server install (pre-WHS), but again never with wireless.

Would using a USB or CD booted OS really be much more secure, since the OS would still have access to the data on the Vista partition? That is the information I am looking to protect more. I am certainly accepting some risk having the information there.

We have an "open" network connection that we can use for private use when we are not working, which a lot of people I don't think take care of their computers. Also, I believe there to be a few curious people that tend to snoop around on there, which I can't blame because people often leave their computers open to attack.

The tinhat is actually pretty interesting. I like the idea of the CD/USB boot, but am not particularly fond of the lack of convenience.
 
Hey, that's a pretty neat trick! I know someone who asked me about that at work recently. Interesting, I'm going to have to try that out.

I'm not really worried about securing my web browsing, just the data on the Vista partition. Who cares about me surfing the [H]? :)
 
I went ahead and just installed Ubuntu 8.10. Works perfectly, and it appears to be completely ignoring my Vista partition - it didn't auto-mount like I thought it would. That's about the best compromise, I imagine.

It looks so much nicer on this newer screen compared to my old IBM. The only catch is whether to use the Ubuntu-community drivers, or the 3rd party drivers for the wireless. Ubuntu says this could be a security risk, so I'll probably just leave it.
 
Nevermind, it's not ignoring it, it's just not mounting it. It is not included at all in /etc/fstab, but it shows up as unmounted media in the file browser. It seems there was some way to get this to be ignored, I'll have to see if I can dig it up.
 
if you want super secure linux, dont forget to NOT install adobe flash....

in the pwn2own competition last year flash was what took down the ubuntu laptop...
 
I didn't think of that, but I haven't installed Flash on either partition yet. I probably won't now, thanks!
 
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