Looking For Secure Operating System ???

Hi

Sorry if i posted in a wrong section i found this the Most appropriate Place to Post


so I'm Looking For an OS that Built with security in Mind

i Heard about Knos but it's Not free

what are the Alternatives ?

 

BSD i heard it is very secure and stable

 

Qubes is still in beta and has serious hardware reqs so probably not a real alternative but interesting enough to keep an eye on. link

 

Fedora has SELinux roots which is fairly secure.

-- Tom

 

Are you going to be using the OS for everyday activities like surfing the internet, e-mail, banking, and making purchases online? If not then what are you primarily going to be using it for?

 

What are you planning on doing with this computer? How much work are you willing to put into getting the OS set up?

FreeBSD will likely be secure enough for you but you'll have to put more work into it over an OS such as Ubuntu/Mint, which are more user friendly but also less secure.

 

Secure from what exactly? If malware is your primary concern, and this will be a general purpose system, then something like Ubuntu or another well known Linux distro would work well. If we're talking serious, sensitive work here, then like others have said, I'd go with BSD or even another of the more work-oriented distros. It all depends on what you're doing and what you yourself will put into it.

 

ReactOS is another one you could look at

 

Like dw426 said, if you're looking to protect yourself from malware... it's not "which os to use" it's "which os not to use" and in this case Windows is the fairly obvious answer.

 

i think i need to survive the malware + Targeted attacks
I have some enemies that won't rest till they see me Frustrated
I don't know why or what their Purpose and i know i'm Not paranoid
Don't ask me how do i know i just had A very very Bad experience
Not once But twice the First one i opend a topic on it in Firewall forums
the second i won't Bother telling it To anyone Because it was something like
Science Fiction Movie ""Really Not kidding "" and if i told to anyone he will simple tell me i'm crazy

I'm managing my self on two Computers Now One online and the other is Offline
and i'm using VMware Linux For Normal every day surfing with windows 7 x64Bit

so my Needs is something For Banking and Commercial Use
to send sensitive data Like "Computer Designs and Banking and Trading stuff"
so it will be all Dealing with money and sending Designs etc ....
it not millions of dollars of course But i'm really Really paranoid after what happened to me

to be honest i don't Trust Windows at all For this procedure
even Lately i started to lose confidence in Ubuntu

Idon't have experience with Ubuntu so i don't Feel Very secure as also i don't know how to configure it well i just use the GUI

So Basicly it will be the same as windows For me

I used to use linux Live disc so i can get sure that every time i load the system that it's not infected
But it's hard to Boot every time and install the same stuff and latly my computer stopped Loading Live Linux discs

Basically i like Knos Idea a Operating system Built For security
and i found expert users here using it
I'm considering Buying it
But i need to Know how secure it is or If there are Free alternitives to Test them how i could manage on those secure systems

I don't think about Media Player Or Application
as a simple Mail Client + Internet Browser will do the Job

i wan't something to be sure it won't be key logged or screen captured easily


sorry for the Long Long Answer But this Really important For me

 

OpenBSD or FreeBSD. Or a VM of either of them since that'll add an extra layer. And use Jails within FreeBSD.

edit: Understand that even these two OS's are not perfect. You're making a smart move getting away from Windows, it's ridiculously insecure. If you're handling secure info it's just not an option.

 

I doubt that, because it tries to copy insecure Windows XP.

I agree that BSD is likely the most secure.

 

Greetings. I'm the actual author of KNOS, but don't want to be accused of spamming, so I'll try to keep this as thin as possible here.

There really isn't any such thing as "free." Sure it may be "no cost" but there is a cost to everything "free." It might be as simple as being a guinea pig for a developer stumbling through code until they get it right whereupon suddenly they charge out the wazoo for it like the clowns at COMODO.

There's free where you get surprises like toolbars or other unwanted intrusions, sometimes even rootkits that nobody finds until years later, and there's free where "well good luck chump - figure out how to configure it, install what you need and there's a forum that nobody answers your questions on." So yeah, there IS free, but there's always some sort of price for it one way or another.

KNOS, yes. We DO charge $35 for your copy plus the year of support and upgrades. But the difference is that for that $35, you get a completely ready to go, fully configured operating system built on top of BSD along with all of the apps you'd expect in a fully-loaded Windows box and all you have to do once you help us pay our bills is boot up and use it.

Nothing else to do unless you want to install it on a bootable USB stick or even replace what's on your hard disk with it. I personally provide support when needed and thankfully, very little is required owing to the way it was built. We designed KNOS for absolute technical idiots (no offense to our customers intended, but that was the design philosophy) many of whom played with Linux and got hopelessly lost and gave up.

/advert in the bolor supplement

That all said, there actually is a FREE version of KNOS since despite our best efforts, there is going to be hardware which we have not yet encountered and we encourage anyone who is thinking of buying KNOS to download our free demo and make sure that it works on their hardware first! And so ... FREE!

Downside to the free version is that it lacks any of the "good stuff" other than a browser with no multimedia, no plugins and none of the numerous apps that come with the real KNOS. But if all you need is a browser and nothing else and it boots for you and runs, then you don't have to offer us a penny for it.

Head over here:

http://www.knosproject.com/demo.html

You can choose where you download from, 32 or 64 bit - one word of caution though, we've seen that the built-in Windows burner has problems so do read the "how to" and our suggestion of alternatives to ensure that you don't waste a puck burning a freebie.

And if you are so inclined, drop by here and see what we charge for, along with my sardonic wit if you require assistance instead being sentenced to forums. We have one of those also as a repository as well, but for money you get personal support should you require same. Here's what the paid version has though. Do rummage around our page and see if you can spot the hidden video somewhere in there of Nancy and I being interviewed on television about KNOS whilst you're at it. (grin)

http://www.knosproject.com/screenshots.html

But try out the highly limited freebie, it's free. Wow. That wasn't "thin" after all.

 

Far and away more secure than Linux (for those who read my articles in the other thread) - reason being that Linux has way too many bad things already enabled when you start it and only those willing to RTFM find out what to turn off. It's not secure out of the box but of course can be made so in "expert hands" and that's why we went with BSD for our design because every aspect of it is hardened by default. No exposed processes and other kernel hooks left open out in userland, and no services "enabled by default" for ease of installation. You gotta work for your supper with BSD just like the very early days of Linux before Ubuntu.

The downside of BSD is that it's incredibly "user hostile." BSD was designed and intended for servers, not for desktops. BSD has never been "tamed" for inexperienced users and aside from perhaps setting up a web server, it's quite obtuse. The expectation with BSD is that you know what you're doing before you even install it and know what to configure as you set it up. Linux experience is largely useless with BSD as well since all of the structures are radically different as are the locations and even the command sets. BSD is *pure* unix, not an "emulation" like Linux. No offense intended towards the penguin, that's just how it is.

BSD really doesn't want itself used for desktops either and is sadly lacking in all of the niceties for "end users" that Linux has added over recent years to the absolute detriment of security. BSD refuses to compromise for "ease of use." That's why we took on the task of making KNOS everything that people expect of OSX or Linux without any of the hassle. Just boot it and away you go. Autodetects everything, no configuration required other than putting in the password to access your wifi if you want to. It's designed for grandma and "Uncle Todd" (who always seems to want you to pull his finger as demonstration of his computing expertise).

Bottom line though, nothing's more secure than BSD out there with a few appropriate modifications we did in order to keep it secure from "Uncle Todd" ... heh. But BSD sure ain't for the timid.

 

Since OP is looking for a free, secure out-of-the-box OS for desktop use, then http://pcbsd.org/ (based on FreeBSD) would be my advice. But most OS's can be tweaked to be "secure" if you know the basic internals, even Windows. So I wouldn't worry to much since you only going to use it as a desktop OS.

/C.

 

Excuse me for going OT, OP. But I really don't get the above.
"Bolor is the leading vodka brand of Mongolia produced since 1981 and a traditional supplement to every high party reception of the Soviet times.", according to searches.
Bolor supplement=example of sardonic wit? (j/k but what the heck does it mean?)

 

thanks Kevin Kevin For your very very Informative Post

I liked Knos already Without Trying it
i will Give the Demo a try and make my decision On it
and my decision is pretty Clear Right now

Thanks For the Post i Really Looking Forward For trying Knos

thanks every One for the Help

 

I've quoted selectively here. But it did make me Google for "hardening Linux" and by Linux I don't refer to Android and its apps.

 

Windows 7 x64 Professional or Ultimate. Enable SRP in the former or AppLocker in the latter and you will have a secure O/S, taking into account latest updates installed, of course.

 

Whoops!

I often like to play with obscure references, but looks like I overshot this one and google is not anyone's friend in resolving it. "bolor supplement" is from an old Monty Python sketch named "The Travel Agent." You can see it here:

http://youtu.be/Yz2LaJOVAiA

Felt like I was writing an advertisement, and so did a close tag with that. I figured more folks might recognise it, but Python is kinda relegated to the attic these days.

 

Depressing.

 

You're most welcome ... the free one is extremely limited but more than adequate if all you need to do is use the browser. The full one is rather nice and has been all I use personally since back in 2006 or so. If you need anything, hit up the KNOS site and let me know ... it'll be your home page when your browser fires up once running it.

 

Indeed. It's gotten to be a cold, humourless world of late, but I suppose I'm too well to play. After all, I came here for an argument.

 

Haha. Old British humor's my style... Python, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, that's my thing =p

I can't think of anything to say that's on topic though!

Except that most OS's are inherently insecure if they're designed for a user.

 

How can you forget the Goon show?!?! Heh.

That's what I liked about the BSD sources as well as their license which says "have at it." It *is* possible to secure users ... all you have to do is all the work of setting it up, configuring it, making it autodetect everything and then surround itself with a box where the only thing the end user can do is *use* it. By taking away the opportunity to screw it all up, a win is possible!

Apple tried to do that with Macs and if only they had kept to BSD and not screwed it up, they'd be there. Even so they got remarkably close and remain a lot closer to it than other OS' ... and I'm not particularly fond of "Teh Steve" after all the shens between him and the BSD people. But it CAN be done and I'm fairly confident after four years at it that we have.