Quote from: LoyceV on May 03, 2023, 09:36:51 AM

Quote from: BenCodie on May 03, 2023, 08:30:23 AM

This is not entirely true with reverse shell attacks. In fact, all it takes is to visit or load a resource from a website (as this requires the user to establish an outgoing connection to it) and the vulnerability becomes opened.

Who ever thought it was a good idea to give a web browser this kind of power? Let me guess: "it's so convenient"....

The amount of power that they have in this day and age is ridiculous to say the least. Why there is not a basic browser with minimal capability that is kept up to date with security patches is something that I wonder every so often.

Quote from: LoyceV on May 03, 2023, 09:36:51 AM

Quote from: BenCodie on May 03, 2023, 08:30:23 AM

This is not entirely true with reverse shell attacks. In fact, all it takes is to visit or load a resource from a website (as this requires the user to establish an outgoing connection to it) and the vulnerability becomes opened.

Paranoid as I am, I run my Tor browser as a separate user. It's an easy way to separate access for different programs, but it's annoying when I need to access a downloaded file in another program. Qubes OS takes it a step further, separating everything into it's own desktop environment.
I haven't used Windows in a while, so I don't know if it's possible to use different programs running as different users at the same time. If it is, at least your browser can't access your other files anymore.

This is great. This would have taken some time to get used to but it goes to show how secure you are because you are openly able to talk about your strategy. I'm yet to master Qubes and ideally, I'd like to take a similar approach one day. For now I do have a solid desktop environment that is a good balance between convenience and a good standard of security and privacy. Enough to be able to browse and talk (seemingly) freely!

Quote from: LoyceV on May 03, 2023, 09:36:51 AM

Quote from: BenCodie on May 03, 2023, 08:30:23 AM

This is not entirely true with reverse shell attacks. In fact, all it takes is to visit or load a resource from a website (as this requires the user to establish an outgoing connection to it) and the vulnerability becomes opened.

Quote

You are totally right. The general assumption is that "Linux is unknown and therefore I will not know how to use it" however this is far from the case. Most distributions are entirely usable and their layout is quite similar to that of Windows.

First: I'm biased Tongue

Second: just compare online installation instructions. Windows: "download, pay for access, install, click here, click there, click click click". Linux: "copy this text, press Enter" Tongue

I know which one I find easier.

It's funny because a lot of people would prefer the way of Windows...click and paste less, pay for convenience, click next next next and install. Linux is really not that inconvenient, just like you said it's really just copy and pasting text - If that. Some distributions have made the process just as easy as windows.

It all comes down to awareness in my opinion. If people were aware that Linux is much simpler than it sounds, I'm sure they'd make the change. I hope the board is one day added to highlight this among other facts like this.