Most secure Linux Distro?

[Mr.Moose]

Title says it all, are there any Linux distro's the stand out with regards to security?

 

[TrainTrackHack]

Not really, though some distros are more secure than others it generally comes down to what software you run (do they have vulnerabilities that could be exploited) and how it's set up. There are some which come better preconfigured as far as security and stability go or perhaps they have tools to ease the configuration, but in general the security depends on how you set the system up. Having said that, it would make more sense to use a distro that by default ships with stable, safe and thoroughly tested software like Debian or CentOS (essentially a free Red Hat clone) and is reasonably well configured out of box. Distros like Arch or Fedora which by default aim to have cutting edge software aren't the safest bet simply because of the risks involved in using software that's had little testing, and in case of the former it's theoretically possible to get malicious packages from the repos as a result of a well-executed attack since they don't do any package singing AFAIK.

 

[Dngrsone]

The one that isn't connected to the Internet.

I concur with hackpelite's assertion-- go with the more stable distros, and know what programs you have running.

 

[DMGrier]

Fedora is the most secure from what I have read.

 

[TrainTrackHack]

Fedora is the most secure from what I have read.

It is quite possibly one of the most secure seeing as it comes with SELinux and presumably other enterprise-class stuff enabled by default (RH kinda uses Fedora as a testing ground), but offering bleeding edge software has its risks like I said.

 

[cletus]

Fortress Linux

fortress linux hands down!
hardened kernel and included apps, thoroughly audited by real security experts.

http://www.fortresslinux.org

 

[Abzu]

I know it's not linux but, OpenBSD is one of the most secure operating systems at this point in time. I'm pretty sure it has an option to enable a linux compatibility layer (which is why i'm throwing this out there). Of course since it is also POSIX compatible and a direct unix descendent it can run most of the same software anyways. I guess the downside of it is that it is more difficult to set up, but since it is bare to begin with it is easy to get running exactly the way you want, since it has no extra bloat.

I just had to write this because it is so secure, it has no holes, they audit the source code. (I am not one of their developers so they may know something I do'nt)

 

[DMGrier]

What you say might be true but the reality is that Linux has better software support which means later and greater software hits distro repo faster then it hits the BSD community.

I have considered trying ghost bsd but from what I have read the software available is just not as much or as recent. The OS is only as good as the community and tools available.