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Would You Use SELinux?

Posted by Cliff on from the NSA-wouldn't-dare-backdoor-a-penguin-,,,-would-they dept.

silent_tyr asks: "I am going to re-install my Linux box and being security conscious I am looking for a secure distribution. After a couple of Google searches I found a version called Secure Linux, which sounded ideal. So I followed this link, which turned out to be what I assume is a genuine NSA web-site. All in all, it looks like a good idea and I can play around with it as I wish, but eventually I will be using this machine as my base-system. So before I start I want to ask two questions: 1) Do you think that it is a good idea to trust the NSA not to put in back-door/spy-ware type code to enable them to snoop my personal information? 2) What other security-patched distro's can people recommend? I don't want to open up the floor for generic NSA-bashing, but I also don't want to have to work my way through every line of code before I install." There was a similar question that was asked a while ago, but there wasn't much to the discussion. For those of you who are running SELinux, what have your experiences been, so far?

3 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What? by thefroatgt · · Score: 5, Informative
    From the main SELinux page:
    Security-enhanced Linux is being released under the same terms and conditions as the original sources. The release includes documentation and source code for both the system and some system utilities that were modified to make use of the new features. Participation with comments, constructive criticism, and/or improvements is welcome.
  2. EnGarde Linux by moonboy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Check out EnGarde Linux.

    Also, LinuxSecurity.com is a very helpful and informative site.

    --

    Co-founder and designer at Music Nearby: http://musicnearby.com
  3. Alternative options by redhat421 · · Score: 5, Informative
    I have not really used SELinux that much, but I have used and would recommend the following two projects.

    grsecurity

    LIDS

    As far as the NSA planting a back door into SELinux, I really doubt it. A backdoor in open source code would be discovered eventually, and the NSA would have a very hard time denying it.

    It seems much more likely that they would put back doors into closed source products, which do not receive as much scrunity.