Linux is safe, less people are using it, the people that are using it are even people that are conscious about malware and want to avoid. This discouraged hackers, but that does not still mean that there are not malware that are specifically designed for Linux, but better than Windows that have more users and more malware.

Yourself is the extra protection. What you know about how to avoid malware and online attacks can help you, even if using Windows. You can begin having fun with this: Good topics on security and privacy

Avoid ads, visit the official URL, avoid unknown sites, avoid torrents. But more ways to avoid online attacks, you can learn many from the above link.