Singapore Government Hackers Love to Hack Teo En Ming's Computers, Smartphones, and Internet Online Accounts

[Oliver Grawert]

hi,
Am Samstag, den 08.08.2015, 23:31 +0800 schrieb Teo En Ming:
> Dear Ubuntu Users,
> 
> If I download and install Ubuntu 15.04 Desktop natively on my home
> desktop computer system, install and configure Shorewall Firewall to
> block ALL incoming connections, disable OpenSSH server, and stop all
> unnecessary daemons/services from running permanently, would Singapore
> Government hackers be able to hack into my home desktop computer
> again?

if you are that concerned about security, there are a few simple rules
of thumb with ubuntu:

* never use anything else than LTS releases, while security fixes go
into other releases as well, LTS always gets the most attention since
the expectation is that it is used in enterprise grade installations.

* always apply updates immediately if the update manager asks you about
them

* do not use third party repositories like PPAs (unless you can and want
to inspect the source code in there before using the binaries)

* do not modify the system on a lower level if you do not 100%
understand what you do (by copy/pasting out of random howtos on the
internet)

security is often more a matter of habit than of technology ;)

Ubuntu is secure by default if you don't break these defaults. 
Indeed there is always room for improvement for everything in the world
and like you can turn an off the shelf car into a racer by applying
tuning parts, you can indeed do this with software too but as with the
racing car example you need the expertise to do so for not having your
engine blow up in the first race. 
So if you change defaults, change them with care, read the documentation
and understand what you are doing, if you don't, leave it as is until
you do.

ciao
	oli