Is my Linux laptop secure?

The way you answer this question may change depending on the type of security you are talking about. There are many aspects to laptop security and I’m going to address a few of them here.
1) Physical – This is the type of security which requires the most attention for students at school as well as in the outside world. Whitfield is known for the safe environment which we all know and appreciate. However, there are times when people visit our campus and even though we expect them to adapt to our culture, we could be surprised by individuals who are not in keeping with our moral and ethical standards. Okay, when our campus is open to everyone, anyone could take advantage of our openness. Since we don’t exactly employ an army of security guards, they cannot be everywhere all the time. They are very good, but they are not omnipresent. This is why you need to keep all your valuables, including your laptop in a secure place such as your locker or the shelves in the IC.
2) Passwords – I like to think of a password as the key to your computer. Just like a key to your home, you wouldn’t go around handing a copy of it to all your friends or leaving it lay around where just about anyone could pick it up, right? Okay, maybe some of you do that, but if I were you, I’d be more careful than that. If you want to keep your key (password) secure, you won’t share it with anyone. Anyone! In the event that your computer needs to be serviced you may be required to divulge the password to myself or one of the other technical staff, but when you get the computer back, you should change your password. You ask, “How do I change my password?” Well, temporarily you will need to do that when you are picking up your computer from us but that will change to make it more convenient sometime in the spring. When you do change your password it will need to be at least 8 characters long and it would be a good idea to mix numbers with both upper and lowercase letters.
3) Malware and Viruses – Have you ever wondered why you don’t see an antivirus or antimalware program running on your Ubuntu laptop? You don't really need antivirus software in  Ubuntu. To install on your computer a virus needs your password. Did I tell you not to share your password with anyone? Also, if you happen to click on and/or receive a link to a program with the .exe or .zip extensions (as most viruses are sent) Linux will try to handle this with Wine and will fail. Now if the file has an extension like .rpm, .deb or .bin you will be looking at a linux file but only one of these will be used on an Ubuntu laptop like yours. Therefore, when the program asks you for your root or sudo or admin password, you should not give it unless your certain that the program is safe and trustworthy. For further information please visit the Linux.com website.
4) Firewalls and Network Security – A firewall is a program which runs on your computer to keep hackers from accessing your laptop over the internet. Since we have a firewall in place between the outside world the only hackers you need to be concerned with are the ones who are on Whitfield’s campus (see paragraphs 1 & 2 above) and we haven’t really had many instances of student’s hacking into their peers’ computers. You should also know that there is an easily configurable firewall available from the Ubuntu Software Center called gufw if you want to add some additional protection. You can get more details from Linux.com.

For more tips on Security in Ubuntu please visit --->  Easy Linux Tips Project
Technological Security is a hot buzzword recently but I think I’ve covered most of the important items here. For further reading you might want to visit the following website in order to Avoid nine fatal mistakes.